diff --git a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
index 7c963705..bf7e7c7e 100644
--- a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
@@ -346,11 +346,11 @@ bool FairMQChannel::ValidateChannel()
     }
 }
 
-bool FairMQChannel::InitCommandInterface(FairMQTransportFactory* factory)
+bool FairMQChannel::InitCommandInterface(FairMQTransportFactory* factory, int numIoThreads)
 {
     fTransportFactory = factory;
 
-    fCmdSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket("sub", "device-commands", 1);
+    fCmdSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket("sub", "device-commands", numIoThreads);
     if (fCmdSocket)
     {
         fCmdSocket->Connect("inproc://commands");
diff --git a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.h b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.h
index 280d87d4..34fd33ad 100644
--- a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.h
+++ b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.h
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class FairMQChannel
     int fNoBlockFlag;
     int fSndMoreFlag;
 
-    bool InitCommandInterface(FairMQTransportFactory* factory);
+    bool InitCommandInterface(FairMQTransportFactory* factory, int numIoThreads);
 
     bool HandleUnblock() const;
 
diff --git a/fairmq/FairMQDevice.cxx b/fairmq/FairMQDevice.cxx
index 5bb39f30..18be0b1b 100644
--- a/fairmq/FairMQDevice.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/FairMQDevice.cxx
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ void FairMQDevice::InitWrapper()
 {
     if (!fCmdSocket)
     {
-        fCmdSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket("pub", "device-commands", 1);
+        fCmdSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket("pub", "device-commands", fNumIoThreads);
         fCmdSocket->Bind("inproc://commands");
     }
 
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ void FairMQDevice::InitWrapper()
             {
                 if (InitChannel(*(*itr)))
                 {
-                    (*itr)->InitCommandInterface(fTransportFactory);
+                    (*itr)->InitCommandInterface(fTransportFactory, fNumIoThreads);
                     uninitializedChannels.erase(itr++);
                 }
                 else
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ bool FairMQDevice::InitChannel(FairMQChannel& ch)
 {
     LOG(DEBUG) << "Initializing channel " << ch.fChannelName << " (" << ch.fType << ")";
     // initialize the socket
-    ch.fSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket(ch.fType, ch.fChannelName, 1);
+    ch.fSocket = fTransportFactory->CreateSocket(ch.fType, ch.fChannelName, fNumIoThreads);
     // set high water marks
     ch.fSocket->SetOption("snd-hwm", &(ch.fSndBufSize), sizeof(ch.fSndBufSize));
     ch.fSocket->SetOption("rcv-hwm", &(ch.fRcvBufSize), sizeof(ch.fRcvBufSize));
diff --git a/fairmq/run/runBenchmarkSampler.cxx b/fairmq/run/runBenchmarkSampler.cxx
index 8fb2df3d..aed5f714 100644
--- a/fairmq/run/runBenchmarkSampler.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/run/runBenchmarkSampler.cxx
@@ -43,13 +43,11 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     {
         int eventSize;
         int eventRate;
-        int ioThreads;
 
         options_description sampler_options("Sampler options");
         sampler_options.add_options()
             ("event-size", value<int>(&eventSize)->default_value(1000), "Event size in bytes")
-            ("event-rate", value<int>(&eventRate)->default_value(0),    "Event rate limit in maximum number of events per second")
-            ("io-threads", value<int>(&ioThreads)->default_value(1),    "Number of I/O threads");
+            ("event-rate", value<int>(&eventRate)->default_value(0),    "Event rate limit in maximum number of events per second");
 
         config.AddToCmdLineOptions(sampler_options);
 
@@ -60,6 +58,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 
         string filename = config.GetValue<string>("config-json-file");
         string id = config.GetValue<string>("id");
+        int ioThreads = config.GetValue<int>("io-threads");
 
         config.UserParser<JSON>(filename, id);