diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 53154a0f..df1201ac 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ export(MultisessionFuture)
 export(UniprocessFuture)
 export(as.cluster)
 export(availableCores)
+export(availableWorkers)
 export(backtrace)
 export(cluster)
 export(eager)
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e14b74fc..0d5ef63b 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ Package: future
 ===============
 
 Version: 1.2.0-9000 [2017-01-05]
+o Added availableWorkers(), cf. availableCores().
 o Added support for controlling whether a future is resolved eagerly
   or lazily when creating the future, e.g. future(..., lazy = TRUE)
   futureAssign(..., lazy = TRUE), and x %<-% { ... } %lazy% TRUE.
diff --git a/R/availableCores.R b/R/availableCores.R
index 6db7be38..34c9fa8a 100644
--- a/R/availableCores.R
+++ b/R/availableCores.R
@@ -78,6 +78,10 @@
 #' setting the number of workers when specifying the future strategy,
 #' e.g. \code{plan(multiprocess, workers=9)}.
 #'
+#' @seealso
+#' To get the number of available workers regardless of machine,
+#' see \code{\link{availableWorkers}()}.
+#'
 #' @export
 #' @keywords internal
 availableCores <- function(constraints=NULL, methods=getOption("future.availableCores.methods", c("system", "mc.cores+1", "_R_CHECK_LIMIT_CORES_", "PBS", "SGE", "Slurm")), na.rm=TRUE, default=c(current=1L), which=c("min", "max", "all")) {
diff --git a/R/availableWorkers.R b/R/availableWorkers.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0ea89b48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/availableWorkers.R
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+#' Get set of available workers
+#'
+#' @param methods A character vector specifying how to infer the number
+#' of available cores.
+#'
+#' @param na.rm If TRUE, only non-missing settings are considered/returned.
+#'
+#' @param default The default set of workers.
+#'
+#' @param which A character specifying which set / sets to return.
+#' If \code{"first"}, the first non-empty set found.
+#' If \code{"min"}, the minimum value is returned.
+#' If \code{"max"}, the maximum value is returned (be careful!)
+#' If \code{"all"}, all values are returned.#'
+#'
+#' @return Return a character vector of workers, which typically consists
+#' of names of machines / compute nodes, but may also be IP numbers.
+#'
+#' @details
+#' The default set of workers for each method is
+#' \code{rep("localhost", times = availableCores(method))}, which means
+#' that each will at least use as many parallel workers on the current
+#' machine that \code{\link{availableCores}()} allows for that method.
+#'
+#' In addition, the following settings ("methods") are also acknowledged:
+#' \itemize{
+#'  \item \code{"PBS"} -
+#'    Query Torque/PBS environment variable \env{PBS_NODEFILE}.
+#'    If this is set and specifies an existing file, then the set
+#'    of workers is read from that file, where one worker (node)
+#'    is given per line.
+#' }
+#'
+#' @seealso
+#' To get the number of available workers on the current machine,
+#' see \code{\link{availableCores}()}.
+#'
+#' @importFrom utils file_test
+#' @export
+#' @keywords internal
+availableWorkers <- function(methods=getOption("future.availableCores.methods", c("PBS", "SGE", "Slurm", "_R_CHECK_LIMIT_CORES_", "mc.cores+1", "system")), na.rm=TRUE, default="localhost", which=c("first", "min", "max", "all")) {
+  ## Local functions
+  getenv <- function(name) {
+    as.character(trim(Sys.getenv(name, NA_character_)))
+  } # getenv()
+
+  getopt <- function(name) {
+    as.character(getOption(name, NA_character_))
+  } # getopt()
+
+  split <- function(s) {
+    x <- unlist(strsplit(s, split = "[,]", fixed = FALSE), use.names = FALSE)
+    x <- trim(x)
+    x <- x[nzchar(x)]
+    x
+  }
+
+  which <- match.arg(which)
+  stopifnot(is.character(default), length(default) >= 1, !anyNA(default))
+
+
+  ## Default is to use the current machine
+  ncores <- availableCores(methods = methods, na.rm = FALSE, which = "all")
+  workers <- lapply(ncores, FUN = function(n) {
+    if (length(n) == 0 || is.na(n)) n <- 0L
+    rep("localhost", times = n)
+  })
+
+  ## Acknowledge known HPC settings
+  for (method in methods) {
+    if (method == "PBS") {
+      pathname <- getenv("PBS_NODEFILE")
+      if (is.na(pathname)) next
+      if (!file_test("-f", pathname)) {
+        warning(sprintf("Environent variable %s was set but no such file %s exists", sQuote("PBS_NODEFILE"), sQuote(pathname)))
+	next
+      }
+      ## One node per line
+      w <- readLines(pathname)
+    } else {
+      ## Fall back to querying option and system environment variable
+      ## with the given name
+      w <- getopt(method)
+      if (is.na(w)) w <- getenv(method)
+      if (is.na(w)) next
+      w <- split(w)
+    }
+
+    ## Drop missing or empty values?
+    if (na.rm) w <- w[!is.na(w)]
+
+    workers[[method]] <- w
+  }
+
+  nnodes <- unlist(lapply(workers, FUN = length), use.names = FALSE)
+  if (which == "first") {
+    idx <- which(is.finite(nnodes) & nnodes > 0L, useNames = FALSE)[1]
+    workers <- if (is.na(idx)) character(0L) else workers[[idx]]
+  } else if (which == "min") {
+    idx <- which.min(nnodes)
+    workers <- workers[[idx]]
+  } else if (which == "max") {
+    idx <- which.max(nnodes)
+    workers <- workers[[idx]]
+  }
+
+  ## Fall back to default?
+  if (is.character(workers) && length(workers) == 0) workers <- default
+
+  ## Sanity checks
+  min_count <- as.integer(na.rm)
+  if (is.list(workers)) {
+    lapply(workers, FUN = function(w) {
+      stopifnot(is.character(w), length(w) >= 0L, all(nchar(w) > 0))
+    })
+  } else {
+    stopifnot(is.character(workers), length(workers) >= min_count, all(nchar(workers) > 0))
+  }
+
+  workers
+} # availableWorkers()
+
diff --git a/man/availableCores.Rd b/man/availableCores.Rd
index 62f8e002..cd9c2c8f 100644
--- a/man/availableCores.Rd
+++ b/man/availableCores.Rd
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ settings are available.}
 \item{which}{A character specifying which settings to return.
 If \code{"min"}, the minimum value is returned.
 If \code{"max"}, the maximum value is returned (be careful!)
-If \code{"all"}, all values are returned.}
+If \code{"all"}, all values are returned.#'}
 }
 \value{
 Return a positive (>=1) integer.
@@ -91,5 +91,9 @@ Having said this, it is almost always better to do this by explicitly
 setting the number of workers when specifying the future strategy,
 e.g. \code{plan(multiprocess, workers=9)}.
 }
+\seealso{
+To get the number of available workers regardless of machine,
+see \code{\link{availableWorkers}()}.
+}
 \keyword{internal}
 
diff --git a/man/availableWorkers.Rd b/man/availableWorkers.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1379d478
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/availableWorkers.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/availableWorkers.R
+\name{availableWorkers}
+\alias{availableWorkers}
+\title{Get set of available workers}
+\usage{
+availableWorkers(methods = getOption("future.availableCores.methods", c("PBS",
+  "SGE", "Slurm", "_R_CHECK_LIMIT_CORES_", "mc.cores+1", "system")),
+  na.rm = TRUE, default = "localhost", which = c("first", "min", "max",
+  "all"))
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{methods}{A character vector specifying how to infer the number
+of available cores.}
+
+\item{na.rm}{If TRUE, only non-missing settings are considered/returned.}
+
+\item{default}{The default set of workers.}
+
+\item{which}{A character specifying which set / sets to return.
+If \code{"first"}, the first non-empty set found.
+If \code{"min"}, the minimum value is returned.
+If \code{"max"}, the maximum value is returned (be careful!)
+If \code{"all"}, all values are returned.#'}
+}
+\value{
+Return a character vector of workers, which typically consists
+of names of machines / compute nodes, but may also be IP numbers.
+}
+\description{
+Get set of available workers
+}
+\details{
+The default set of workers for each method is
+\code{rep("localhost", times = availableCores(method))}, which means
+that each will at least use as many parallel workers on the current
+machine that \code{\link{availableCores}()} allows for that method.
+
+In addition, the following settings ("methods") are also acknowledged:
+\itemize{
+ \item \code{"PBS"} -
+   Query Torque/PBS environment variable \env{PBS_NODEFILE}.
+   If this is set and specifies an existing file, then the set
+   of workers is read from that file, where one worker (node)
+   is given per line.
+}
+}
+\seealso{
+To get the number of available workers on the current machine,
+see \code{\link{availableCores}()}.
+}
+\keyword{internal}
+
diff --git a/tests/availableWorkers.R b/tests/availableWorkers.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b2a636cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/availableWorkers.R
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+source("incl/start.R")
+
+message("*** availableWorkers() ...")
+
+## The default
+w <- availableWorkers()
+print(w)
+stopifnot(is.character(w), length(w) >= 1)
+
+## Minimium of all known settings (default)
+print(availableWorkers(which="min"))
+
+## Maximum of all known settings (should never be used)
+print(availableWorkers(which="max"))
+
+## All known settings
+print(availableWorkers(na.rm=FALSE, which="all"))
+
+## System settings
+w <- availableWorkers(methods="system")
+print(w)
+stopifnot(is.character(w), length(w) >= 1)
+
+## Predefined ones for known cluster schedulers
+print(availableWorkers(methods="PBS"))
+print(availableWorkers(methods="SGE"))
+print(availableWorkers(methods="Slurm"))
+
+## PBS settings
+pathname <- tempfile()
+workers0 <- c("n1", "n2", "n3", "n1", "n6")
+writeLines(workers0, con = pathname)
+Sys.setenv(PBS_NODEFILE = pathname)
+workers <- availableWorkers(methods="PBS")
+print(workers)
+stopifnot(length(workers) == length(workers0), all(workers == workers0))
+
+
+## Any R options and system environment variable
+print(availableWorkers(methods=c("width", "FOO_BAR_ENV"),
+                     na.rm=FALSE, which="all"))
+
+## Exception handling
+Sys.setenv("FOO_BAR_ENV"="0")
+res <- try(availableWorkers(methods="FOO_BAR_ENV"), silent=TRUE)
+stopifnot(inherits(res, "try-error"))
+
+
+message("*** availableWorkers() ... DONE")
+
+source("incl/end.R")
+