diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dfb7933..654c748 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,10 +56,43 @@ Please thank the original authors of `igzip`: Jim Guilford, Vinodh Gopal, Sean G
 Also thank Paolo Narvaez, Mishali Naik and Gil Wolrich for their contributions.
 Finally, thank Intel for sponsoring the `igzip` work.
 
+## Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (Intel IPP) Support
+
+Intel's Integrated Performance Primitives (Intel IPP) can boost performance of compression (deflation) by 20-30%.
+Currently, Intel IPP 9.0 is supported.
+
+#### Enable IGZIP when configuring PBGZIP
+
+Make sure to enable `ipp` when running configure:
+
+```
+  ./configure --enable-ipp
+```
+
+## Installing and Linking Intel IPP 
+
+1. Install Intel's IPP (see [Intel IPP](https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-ipp)]). 
+
+2. Make sure that the path to the installed Intel IPP libraries is either (a)added to your relevant environment variables, or (b) or specified during the configure command.
+
+(a) Add the following to your `.bashrc`.  Please modify the path for your installation. 
+
+```
+export LIBRARY_PATH=${LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2016.0.083/mac/ipp/lib
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2016.0.083/mac/ipp/lib
+```
+
+(b) Append the following to the arguments to `configure`.  Please modify the path for your installation.
+
+```
+LDFLAGS=-L/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2016.0.083/mac/ipp/lib CFLAGS=-I/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2016.0.083/mac/ipp/include
+```
+
 ## Current Issues
 
 For developer issues, see: https://github.com/nh13/pbgzip/issues
 
+
 #### Compression Limitations
 
 Due to the requirement that we must fit a chunk of compressed data into a maximum size block, we may fail at compression when the data has sufficiently high entropy (is too random).
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 24de25f..bfd9689 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ AC_GNU_SOURCE
 # set CFLAGS 
 default_CFLAGS="-g -Wall -O2 -pthread";
 extended_CFLAGS="-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -D_USE_KNETFILE -DHAVE_LIBPTHREAD" # #-DDISABLE_BZ2
-AM_CPPFLAGS="-I. -Iigzip/c_code -Iigzip/include"
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether the git revision is available)
 gitrev="`git log 2>/dev/null | grep -m 1 commit | awk '{print $2}'`";
@@ -48,6 +47,17 @@ fi
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(intel64, [  --enable-intel64        optimize for Intel64 CPU such as Xeon and Core2], [extended_CFLAGS="${extended_CFLAGS} -mtune=nocona"], [])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(bz2,     [  --disable-bz2           use this option to disable bz2 support], [AC_DEFINE(DISABLE_BZ2,1,[Define 1 if we want to disable bz2 support])], [AC_CHECK_LIB([bz2], [BZ2_bzRead])])
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(igzip,   [  --enable-igzip          use this option to enable igzip support], [AC_CHECK_LIB([igzip0c], [fast_lz])], [])
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(ipp,     [  --enable-ipp            use this option to enable intel integrated performance primitives support (please set LDFLAGS and CFLAGS appropriately)], 
+			  [
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippdc], [ippdcGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippdc not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippcc], [ippccGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippcc not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippcv], [ippcvGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippcv not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippch], [ippchGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippch not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippvm], [ippvmGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippvm not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippi], [ippiGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippi not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ipps], [ippsGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ipps not found"])]) 
+			   AC_CHECK_LIB([ippcore], [ippGetLibVersion], [], [AC_MSG_ERROR(["--enable-ipp used but ippcore not found"])]) 
+			  ], [])
 
 CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} ${default_CFLAGS} ${extended_CFLAGS}";