diff --git a/src/sync/sync.h b/src/sync/sync.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d9be719c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sync/sync.h
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#ifndef XGBOOST_SYNC_SYNC_H_
+#define XGBOOST_SYNC_SYNC_H_
+/*!
+ * \file sync.h
+ * \brief interface to do synchronization
+ * \author Tianqi Chen
+ */
+namespace xgboost {
+namespace sync {
+/*! 
+ * \brief synchronization context interface of xgboost,
+ *        will be provided as a singleton
+ */
+class IContext {
+  
+};
+
+}  // namespace sync
+}  // namespace xgboost
+#endif
diff --git a/src/tree/updater_distcol-inl.hpp b/src/tree/updater_distcol-inl.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f5d37c1fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tree/updater_distcol-inl.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+#ifndef XGBOOST_TREE_UPDATER_DISTCOL_INL_HPP_
+#define XGBOOST_TREE_UPDATER_DISTCOL_INL_HPP_
+/*!
+ * \file updater_distcol-inl.hpp
+ * \brief beta distributed version that takes a sub-column 
+ *        and construct a tree
+ * \author Tianqi Chen
+ */
+#include "../utils/bitmap.h"
+#include "./updater_colmaker-inl.hpp"
+
+namespace xgboost {
+namespace tree {
+template<typename TStats>
+class DistColMaker : public ColMaker<TStats> {
+ public:
+  DistColMaker(void) : builder(param) {}
+  virtual ~DistColMaker(void) {}
+  // set training parameter
+  virtual void SetParam(const char *name, const char *val) {
+    param.SetParam(name, val);
+  }
+  virtual void Update(const std::vector<bst_gpair> &gpair,
+                      IFMatrix *p_fmat,
+                      const BoosterInfo &info,
+                      const std::vector<RegTree*> &trees) {    
+    TStats::CheckInfo(info);
+    utils::Check(trees.size() == 1, "DistColMaker: only support one tree at a time");
+    builder.Update(gpair, p_fmat, info, trees[0]);
+  }
+ private:
+  struct Builder : public ColMaker<TStats>::Builder {
+   public:
+    Builder(const TrainParam &param) 
+        : ColMaker<TStats>::Builder(param) {
+    }
+   protected:
+    virtual void SetNonDefaultPosition(const std::vector<int> &qexpand,
+                                       IFMatrix *p_fmat, const RegTree &tree) {
+      // step 2, classify the non-default data into right places
+      std::vector<unsigned> fsplits;
+      for (size_t i = 0; i < qexpand.size(); ++i) {
+        const int nid = qexpand[i];
+        if (!tree[nid].is_leaf()) {
+          fsplits.push_back(tree[nid].split_index());
+        }
+      }
+      // get the candidate split index
+      std::sort(fsplits.begin(), fsplits.end());
+      fsplits.resize(std::unique(fsplits.begin(), fsplits.end()) - fsplits.begin());
+      while (fsplits.size() != 0 && fsplits.back() >= p_fmat->NumCol()) {
+        fsplits.pop_back();
+      }
+      // setup BitMap
+      bitmap.Resize(this->position.size());
+      bitmap.Clear();
+      utils::IIterator<ColBatch> *iter = p_fmat->ColIterator(fsplits);
+      while (iter->Next()) {
+        const ColBatch &batch = iter->Value();
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < batch.size; ++i) {
+          ColBatch::Inst col = batch[i];
+          const bst_uint fid = batch.col_index[i];
+          const bst_omp_uint ndata = static_cast<bst_omp_uint>(col.length);
+          #pragma omp parallel for schedule(static)
+          for (bst_omp_uint j = 0; j < ndata; ++j) {
+            const bst_uint ridx = col[j].index;
+            const float fvalue = col[j].fvalue;
+            int nid = this->position[ridx];
+            if (nid < 0) continue;
+            // go back to parent, correct those who are not default
+            nid = tree[nid].parent();
+            if (tree[nid].split_index() == fid) {
+              if (fvalue < tree[nid].split_cond()) {
+                if (!tree[nid].default_left()) bitmap.SetTrue(ridx);
+              } else {
+                if (tree[nid].default_left()) bitmap.SetTrue(ridx);
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      // communicate bitmap
+      //sync::AllReduce();
+      const std::vector<bst_uint> &rowset = p_fmat->buffered_rowset();   
+      // get the new position
+      const bst_omp_uint ndata = static_cast<bst_omp_uint>(rowset.size());
+      #pragma omp parallel for schedule(static)
+      for (bst_omp_uint i = 0; i < ndata; ++i) {
+        const bst_uint ridx = rowset[i];
+        int nid = this->position[ridx];
+        if (nid >= 0 && bitmap.Get(ridx)) {
+          nid = tree[nid].parent();
+          if (tree[nid].default_left()) {
+            this->position[ridx] = tree[nid].cright();
+          } else {
+            this->position[ridx] = tree[nid].cleft();
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    // synchronize the best solution of each node
+    virtual void SyncBestSolution(const std::vector<int> &qexpand) {
+      for (size_t i = 0; i < qexpand.size(); ++i) {
+        const int nid = qexpand[i];
+        for (int tid = 0; tid < this->nthread; ++tid) {
+          this->snode[nid].best.Update(this->stemp[tid][nid].best);
+        }
+      }
+      // communicate best solution
+      // sync::AllReduce
+    }
+    
+   private:
+    utils::BitMap bitmap;
+  };
+  // training parameter
+  TrainParam param;
+  // pointer to the builder
+  Builder builder; 
+};
+}  // namespace tree
+}  // namespace xgboost
+#endif
diff --git a/src/utils/bitmap.h b/src/utils/bitmap.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c7cf2fc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/bitmap.h
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#ifndef XGBOOST_UTILS_BITMAP_H_
+#define XGBOOST_UTILS_BITMAP_H_
+/*!
+ * \file bitmap.h
+ * \brief a simple implement of bitmap
+ * \author Tianqi Chen
+ */
+#include <vector>
+#include "./utils.h"
+
+namespace xgboost {
+namespace utils {
+/*! \brief bit map that contains set of bit indicators */
+struct BitMap {
+  /*! \brief internal data structure */
+  std::vector<uint32_t> data;
+  /*! 
+   * \brief resize the bitmap to be certain size 
+   * \param size the size of bitmap
+   */
+  inline void Resize(size_t size) {
+    data.resize((size + 31U) >> 5, 0);
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief query the i-th position of bitmap 
+   * \param i the position in 
+   */
+  inline bool Get(size_t i) const {
+    return (data[i >> 5] >> (i & 31U)) & 1U;
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief set i-th position to true 
+   * \param i position index
+   */
+  inline void SetTrue(size_t i) {
+    data[i >> 5] |= (1 << (i & 31U));
+  }
+  /*! \brief clear the bitmap, set all places to false */
+  inline void Clear(void) {
+    std::fill(data.begin(), data.end(), 0U);
+  }
+};
+}  // namespace utils
+}  // namespace xgboost
+#endif