Title: ejb-ref # Via annotation package org.superbiz.refs; import javax.ejb.EJB; import javax.ejb.Stateless; import javax.naming.InitialContext; @Stateless @EJB(name = "myFooEjb", beanInterface = FooRemote.class) public class MyEjbRemoteRefBean implements MyBeanInterface { @EJB private BarRemote myBarEjb; public void someBusinessMethod() throws Exception { if (myBarEjb == null) throw new NullPointerException("myBarEjb not injected"); // Both can be looked up from JNDI as well InitialContext context = new InitialContext(); FooRemote fooRemote = (FooRemote) context.lookup("java:comp/env/myFooEjb"); BarRemote barRemote = (BarRemote) context.lookup("java:comp/env/org.superbiz.refs.MyEjbRemoteRefBean/myBarEjb"); } } # Via xml The above @EJB annotation usage is 100% equivalent to the following xml. myFooEjb org.superbiz.refs.FooRemote org.superbiz.refs.MyEjbRemoteRefBean/myBarEjb org.superbiz.refs.BarRemote org.superbiz.refs.MyEjbRemoteRefBean myBarEjb