diff --git a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexClient.java b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexClient.java
index b0506de736..40e3e17dfb 100644
--- a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexClient.java
+++ b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexClient.java
@@ -109,6 +109,9 @@ public class IndexClient {
         options.addOption(OptionBuilder.isRequired(false).withDescription(
                 "print this help message").create("h"));
 
+        options.addOption(OptionBuilder.isRequired(false).withDescription(
+                "optimize search solr core").create("o"));
+
         try {
             line = new PosixParser().parse(options, args);
         } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -141,6 +144,9 @@ public class IndexClient {
         } else if (line.hasOption("b")) {
             log.info("(Re)building index from scratch.");
             indexer.createIndex(context);
+        } else if (line.hasOption("o")) {
+            log.info("Optimizing search core.");
+            indexer.optimize();
         } else {
             log.info("Updating and Cleaning Index");
             indexer.cleanIndex(line.hasOption("f"));
diff --git a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexingService.java b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexingService.java
index f58d9e265a..b2551c0bc0 100644
--- a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexingService.java
+++ b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/IndexingService.java
@@ -80,4 +80,6 @@ public interface IndexingService {
 
     void cleanIndex(boolean force) throws IOException,
             SQLException, SearchServiceException;
+
+    void optimize();
 }
diff --git a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceImpl.java b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceImpl.java
index 2528f1e4ee..164bd6ef8f 100644
--- a/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceImpl.java
+++ b/dspace-discovery/dspace-discovery-provider/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceImpl.java
@@ -423,6 +423,25 @@ public class SolrServiceImpl implements SearchService, IndexingService {
 
 
 
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Maintenance to keep a SOLR index efficient.
+     * Note: This might take a long time.
+     */
+    public void optimize() {
+        try {
+            long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            System.out.println("SOLR Search Optimize -- Process Started:"+start);
+            getSolr().optimize();
+            long finish = System.currentTimeMillis();
+            System.out.println("SOLR Search Optimize -- Process Finished:"+finish);
+            System.out.println("SOLR Search Optimize -- Total time taken:"+(finish-start) + " (ms).");
+        } catch (SolrServerException sse) {
+            System.err.println(sse.getMessage());
+        } catch (IOException ioe) {
+            System.err.println(ioe.getMessage());
+        }
     }
 
     // //////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/dspace/CHANGES b/dspace/CHANGES
index b2757bac3e..d069652290 100644
--- a/dspace/CHANGES
+++ b/dspace/CHANGES
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 (Peter Dietz)
 - [DS-192] Bitstreams should be returned ordered
 - [DS-549] Added <a name> anchors in XMLUI
+- [DS-615] Added ability to perform Solr optimize on the search/discovery core.
 
 (Stuart Lewis, Christophe Dupriez)
 - [DS-686] Incorrect use of UTF8 in DSpaceCSV