diff --git a/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/TotalNGram.java b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/TotalNGram.java
index 992b03c..752307c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/TotalNGram.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/TotalNGram.java
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@
     int max_threads = MAX_THREADS;
 
     @SuppressWarnings("CanBeFinal")
+    @CommandLine.Option(names = {"-p",
+            "--worker-pool"}, description = "Run preprocessing on extern hosts, e.g. '10*local,5*host1,3*smith@host2' (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
+    String worker_pool_specification = "";
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("CanBeFinal")
     @CommandLine.Option(names = {"-n",
             "--ngram-size"}, description = "n-gram size (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
     int ngram_size = 1;
@@ -82,8 +87,12 @@
         etaPrinter = new Progressbar(totalFilesSizes, "MB");
         BlockingQueue<Integer> queue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>(inputFiles.size());
         ExecutorService es = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
+        WorkerNodePool workerNodePool = new WorkerNodePool(worker_pool_specification);
+        if (!worker_pool_specification.equals("")) {
+            max_threads = workerNodePool.size;
+        }
         int threads = Math.min(max_threads, inputFiles.size());
-        IntStream.range(0, threads).forEach(unused -> es.execute(new Worker(queue, inputFiles, ngram_size, FOLDS, map, etaPrinter)));
+        IntStream.range(0, threads).forEach(unused -> es.execute(new Worker(queue, inputFiles, ngram_size, FOLDS, map, workerNodePool, etaPrinter)));
         queue.addAll(IntStream.range(0, inputFiles.size()).boxed().collect(Collectors.toList()));
         IntStream.range(0, threads).forEach(unused -> {
             try {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/Worker.java b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/Worker.java
index 8ce5288..a82b0c7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/Worker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/Worker.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadLocalRandom;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
@@ -18,13 +19,17 @@
     private final int folds;
     private final Progressbar etaPrinter;
     private final int ngram_size;
-
-    public Worker(BlockingQueue<Integer> queue, ArrayList<String> fnames, int ngram_size, int folds, ConcurrentHashMap<String, FoldedEntry> map, ETAPrinter etaPrinter) {
+    private WorkerNodePool pool;
+    public Worker(BlockingQueue<Integer> queue, ArrayList<String> fnames, int ngram_size, int folds,
+                  ConcurrentHashMap<String, FoldedEntry> map,
+                  WorkerNodePool pool,
+                  Progressbar etaPrinter) {
         this.queue = queue;
         this.fnames = fnames;
         this.map = map;
         this.ngram_size = ngram_size;
         this.folds = folds;
+        this.pool = pool;
         this.etaPrinter = etaPrinter;
     }
 
@@ -35,11 +40,12 @@
             while (index >= 0) {
                 String fname = fnames.get(index);
                 long file_size = new File(fname).length();
-                System.err.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + " - processing: " + fname);
+                int poolIndex = index % pool.size;
+                System.err.println(String.format("%4d/%4d %-10s %-10s", index, fnames.size(), pool.getHost(poolIndex), fname));
                 String[] cmd = {
                         "/bin/sh",
                         "-c",
-                        "/usr/local/kl/bin/korapxml2conllu " + fname
+                        pool.getExec(poolIndex) + "/usr/local/kl/bin/korapxml2conllu " + fname
                 };
                 Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
                 BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/WorkerNodePool.java b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/WorkerNodePool.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..255809d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/ids_mannheim/WorkerNodePool.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package org.ids_mannheim;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.stream.IntStream;
+
+public class WorkerNodePool {
+    ArrayList<String> execPool = new ArrayList<String>();
+    ArrayList<String> hostPool = new ArrayList<String>();
+    public final int size;
+
+    public String getExec(int i) {
+        return execPool.get(i);
+    }
+
+    public String getHost(int i) {
+        return hostPool.get(i);
+    }
+
+    private String hostToExec(String host) {
+        if(host.equals("") || host.matches("local")) {
+            return "nice -5 ";
+        } else {
+            return " ssh " + host + " nice -5 ";
+        }
+    }
+
+    public WorkerNodePool(String description) {
+        Arrays.stream(description.split(", *")).forEachOrdered(s -> {
+            String[] single = s.split("\\s*[*]\\s*");
+            final String host;
+            int procs = 0;
+            if (single.length == 1) {
+                procs = 1;
+                host = single[0];
+            } else if (single.length == 2) {
+                procs = Integer.valueOf(single[0]);
+                host = single[1];
+            } else {
+                host = "";
+                System.err.println("ERROR: Wrong worker node format: " + s);
+                System.exit(-1);
+            }
+            IntStream.range(0, procs).forEach(u -> {
+                hostPool.add(host);
+                execPool.add(hostToExec(host));
+            });
+
+        });
+        size = hostPool.size();
+    }
+}