diff --git a/apps/lock_manager/backend_memcached.py b/apps/lock_manager/backend_memcached.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8458fbb395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/lock_manager/backend_memcached.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from django.core.cache import get_cache
+
+if CACHE_URI:
+    try:
+        cache_backend = get_cache(CACHE_URI)
+    except ImportError:
+        # TODO: display or log error
+        cache_backend = None
+else:
+    cache_backend = None
+if cache_backend:
+    acquire_lock = lambda lock_id: cache_backend.add(lock_id, u'true', LOCK_EXPIRE)
+    release_lock = lambda lock_id: cache_backend.delete(lock_id)
+else:
+    acquire_lock = lambda lock_id: True
+    release_lock = lambda lock_id: True