diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/README.md b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/README.md
index 4e0dad334c3e9..acbd00c9cb5c3 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/README.md
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/README.md
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ namespace cms::alpakatools {
   };
 }
 ```
-Note that the destination (device-side) type `TDst` can be different from or the same as the source (host-side) type `TSrc` as far as the framework is concerned. For example, in the `PortableCollection` model the types are different. The `copyAsync()` member function is easiest to implement as a template over `TQueue`. The framework handles the necessary synchronization between the copy function and the consumer (currently the synchronization blocks, but work is ongoing to make it non-blocking).
+Note that the destination (device-side) type `TDst` can be different from or the same as the source (host-side) type `TSrc` as far as the framework is concerned. For example, in the `PortableCollection` model the types are different. The `copyAsync()` member function is easiest to implement as a template over `TQueue`. The framework handles the necessary synchronization between the copy function and the consumer in a non-blocking way.
 
 The `CopyToDevice` class template is partially specialized for all `PortableCollection` instantiations.
 
diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ESProducer.h b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ESProducer.h
index dfcbd66b527e0..6c812cff17253 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ESProducer.h
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ESProducer.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef HeterogeneousCore_AlpakaCore_interface_alpaka_ESProducer_h
 #define HeterogeneousCore_AlpakaCore_interface_alpaka_ESProducer_h
 
-#include "FWCore/Framework/interface/ESProducer.h"
+#include "FWCore/Framework/interface/ESProducerExternalWork.h"
 #include "FWCore/Framework/interface/MakeDataException.h"
 #include "FWCore/Framework/interface/produce_helpers.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/modulePrevalidate.h"
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/CopyToDevice.h"
 
 #include <functional>
-#include <type_traits>
 
 namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
   /**
@@ -25,8 +24,8 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
    * the the usual Record argument. For producing a device product,
    * the produce funtion should have device::Record<Record> argument.
    */
-  class ESProducer : public edm::ESProducer {
-    using Base = edm::ESProducer;
+  class ESProducer : public edm::ESProducerExternalWork {
+    using Base = edm::ESProducerExternalWork;
 
   public:
     static void prevalidate(edm::ConfigurationDescriptions& descriptions) {
@@ -76,6 +75,10 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
               auto const& devices = cms::alpakatools::devices<Platform>();
               assert(devices.size() == 1);
               device::Record<TRecord> const deviceRecord(record, devices.front());
+              static_assert(std::is_same_v<std::remove_cvref_t<decltype(deviceRecord.queue())>,
+                                           alpaka::Queue<Device, alpaka::Blocking>>,
+                            "Non-blocking queue when trying to use ES data product directly. This might indicate a "
+                            "need to extend the Alpaka ESProducer base class.");
               return std::invoke(iMethod, iThis, deviceRecord);
             },
             label);
@@ -94,12 +97,12 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
       using TProduct = typename edm::eventsetup::produce::smart_pointer_traits<TReturn>::type;
       using ProductType = ESDeviceProduct<TProduct>;
       using ReturnType = detail::ESDeviceProductWithStorage<TProduct, TReturn>;
-      return Base::setWhatProduced(
-          [function = std::forward<TFunc>(func)](TRecord const& record) -> std::unique_ptr<ProductType> {
+      return Base::setWhatAcquiredProducedWithLambda(
+          // acquire() part
+          [function = std::forward<TFunc>(func), synchronize = synchronize_](TRecord const& record,
+                                                                             edm::WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder holder) {
             // TODO: move the multiple device support into EventSetup system itself
             auto const& devices = cms::alpakatools::devices<Platform>();
-            std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Queue>> queues;
-            queues.reserve(devices.size());
             auto ret = std::make_unique<ReturnType>(devices.size());
             bool allnull = true;
             bool anynull = false;
@@ -112,12 +115,28 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
               } else {
                 anynull = true;
               }
-              queues.push_back(deviceRecord.queuePtr());
-            }
-            // TODO: to be changed asynchronous later
-            for (auto& queuePtr : queues) {
-              alpaka::wait(*queuePtr);
+              if (synchronize) {
+                alpaka::wait(deviceRecord.queue());
+              } else {
+                enqueueCallback(deviceRecord.queue(), std::move(holder));
+              }
+              // The Queue is returned to the QueueCache. The same
+              // Queue may be used for other work before the work
+              // enqueued here finishes. The only impact would be a
+              // (slight?) delay in the completion of the other work.
+              // Given that the ESProducers are expected to be mostly
+              // for host-to-device data copies, that are serialized
+              // anyway (at least on current NVIDIA), this should be
+              // reasonable behavior for now.
             }
+            return std::tuple(std::move(ret), allnull, anynull);
+          },
+          // produce() part, called after the asynchronous work in all queues have finished
+          [](TRecord const& record, auto fromAcquire) -> std::unique_ptr<ProductType> {
+            auto [ret, allnull, anynull] = std::move(fromAcquire);
+            // The 'allnull'/'anynull' actions are in produce()
+            // to keep any destination memory in 'ret'
+            // alive until the asynchronous work has finished
             if (allnull) {
               return nullptr;
             } else if (anynull) {
@@ -129,17 +148,19 @@ namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
               // make the EventSetup system itself aware of multiple
               // devies (or memory spaces). I hope this exception
               // would be good-enough until we get there.
-              ESProducer::throwSomeNullException();
+              throwSomeNullException();
             }
-            return ret;
+            return std::move(ret);
           },
           label);
     }
 
+    static void enqueueCallback(Queue& queue, edm::WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder holder);
     static void throwSomeNullException();
 
     std::string const moduleLabel_;
     std::string const appendToDataLabel_;
+    bool const synchronize_;
   };
 }  // namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE
 
diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ProducerBase.h b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ProducerBase.h
index d8d2f2de6fea3..c2d41e91a9106 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ProducerBase.h
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ProducerBase.h
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 #include "FWCore/Utilities/interface/Transition.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/DeviceProductType.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/EDMetadataAcquireSentry.h"
-#include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h"
-#include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/QueueCache.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/modulePrevalidate.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/Backend.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/CopyToHost.h"
diff --git a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/ESProducer.cc b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/ESProducer.cc
index c4f7c58a68e1d..028718bc74c85 100644
--- a/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/ESProducer.cc
+++ b/HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/src/alpaka/ESProducer.cc
@@ -1,10 +1,29 @@
+#include "FWCore/Concurrency/interface/Async.h"
+#include "FWCore/ServiceRegistry/interface/Service.h"
 #include "FWCore/Utilities/interface/EDMException.h"
+#include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/EventCache.h"
 #include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaCore/interface/alpaka/ESProducer.h"
+#include "HeterogeneousCore/AlpakaInterface/interface/HostOnlyTask.h"
 
 namespace ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE {
   ESProducer::ESProducer(edm::ParameterSet const& iConfig)
       : moduleLabel_(iConfig.getParameter<std::string>("@module_label")),
-        appendToDataLabel_(iConfig.getParameter<std::string>("appendToDataLabel")) {}
+        appendToDataLabel_(iConfig.getParameter<std::string>("appendToDataLabel")),
+        // The 'synchronize' parameter can be unset in Alpaka modules
+        // specified with the namespace prefix instead if '@alpaka'
+        // suffix
+        synchronize_(
+            iConfig.getUntrackedParameter<edm::ParameterSet>("alpaka").getUntrackedParameter("synchronize", false)) {}
+
+  void ESProducer::enqueueCallback(Queue& queue, edm::WaitingTaskWithArenaHolder holder) {
+    edm::Service<edm::Async> async;
+    auto event = cms::alpakatools::getEventCache<Event>().get(alpaka::getDev(queue));
+    alpaka::enqueue(queue, *event);
+    async->runAsync(
+        std::move(holder),
+        [event = std::move(event)]() mutable { alpaka::wait(*event); },
+        []() { return "Enqueued via " EDM_STRINGIZE(ALPAKA_ACCELERATOR_NAMESPACE) "::ESProducer::enqueueCallback()"; });
+  }
 
   void ESProducer::throwSomeNullException() {
     throw edm::Exception(edm::errors::UnimplementedFeature)