diff --git a/features.export.inc b/features.export.inc
index 5e72ef4..2d31f13 100644
--- a/features.export.inc
+++ b/features.export.inc
@@ -671,7 +671,10 @@ function features_get_storage($module_name) {
 function features_get_signature($state = 'default', $module_name, $component, $reset = FALSE) {
   switch ($state) {
     case 'cache':
-      $codecache = variable_get('features_codecache', array());
+      $cache = cache_get('features_codecache', 'cache_featurestate');
+      if (!empty($cache->data)) {
+        $codecache = $cache->data;
+      }
       return isset($codecache[$module_name][$component]) ? $codecache[$module_name][$component] : FALSE;
     case 'default':
       $objects = features_get_default($component, $module_name, TRUE, $reset);
@@ -691,10 +694,13 @@ function features_get_signature($state = 'default', $module_name, $component, $r
  * Set the signature of a module/component pair in the codecache.
  */
 function features_set_signature($module, $component, $signature = NULL) {
-  $var_codecache = variable_get('features_codecache', array());
+  $cache = cache_get('features_codecache', 'cache_featurestate');
+  if (!empty($cache->data)) {
+    $codecache = $cache->data;
+  }
   $signature = isset($signature) ? $signature : features_get_signature('default', $module, $component, TRUE);
-  $var_codecache[$module][$component] = $signature;
-  variable_set('features_codecache', $var_codecache);
+  $codecache[$module][$component] = $signature;
+  cache_set('features_codecache', $codecache, 'cache_featurestate');
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/features.install b/features.install
index 008f41b..9335ff1 100644
--- a/features.install
+++ b/features.install
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 function features_schema() {
   $schema['cache_features'] = drupal_get_schema_unprocessed('system', 'cache');
   $schema['cache_features']['description'] = 'Cache table for features to store module info.';
+  $schema['cache_featurestate'] = drupal_get_schema_unprocessed('system', 'cache');
+  $schema['cache_featurestate']['description'] = 'Table for features to store persistent state info.';
   return $schema;
 }
 
@@ -149,3 +151,14 @@ function features_update_7200() {
     db_create_table('cache_features', $schema);
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Add {cache_featurestate} table.
+ */
+function features_update_7201() {
+  if (!db_table_exists('cache_featurestate')) {
+    variable_del('features_codecache');
+    $schema = drupal_get_schema_unprocessed('system', 'cache');
+    db_create_table('cache_featurestate', $schema);
+  }
+}