diff --git a/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/services/ServiceInfo.kt b/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/services/ServiceInfo.kt
index b4c821c6d1..c1797ab7dc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/services/ServiceInfo.kt
+++ b/core/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/services/ServiceInfo.kt
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ data class ServiceInfo(val type: ServiceType, val name: String? = null) {
     companion object {
         fun parse(encoded: String): ServiceInfo {
             val parts = encoded.split("|")
-            require(parts.size > 0 && parts.size <= 2)
-            return ServiceInfo(object : ServiceType(parts[0]) {}, parts[1])
+            require(parts.size > 0 && parts.size <= 2) { "Invalid number of elements found" }
+            val type = object : ServiceType(parts[0]) {}
+            val name = parts.getOrNull(1)
+            return ServiceInfo(type, name)
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/ServiceInfoTests.kt b/core/src/test/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/ServiceInfoTests.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..25ea8de559
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/kotlin/com/r3corda/core/node/ServiceInfoTests.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package com.r3corda.core.node
+
+import com.r3corda.core.node.services.ServiceInfo
+import com.r3corda.core.node.services.ServiceType
+import org.junit.Test
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import kotlin.test.assertFailsWith
+
+class ServiceInfoTests {
+    val serviceType = object : ServiceType("corda.service.subservice") {}
+    val name = "service.name"
+
+    @Test
+    fun `type and name encodes correctly`() {
+        assertEquals(ServiceInfo(serviceType, name).toString(), "$serviceType|$name")
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `type and name parses correctly`() {
+        assertEquals(ServiceInfo.parse("$serviceType|$name"), ServiceInfo(serviceType, name))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `type only encodes correctly`() {
+        assertEquals(ServiceInfo(serviceType).toString(), "$serviceType")
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `type only parses correctly`() {
+        assertEquals(ServiceInfo.parse("$serviceType"), ServiceInfo(serviceType))
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `invalid encoding throws`() {
+        assertFailsWith<IllegalArgumentException> { ServiceInfo.parse("$serviceType|$name|something") }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file