A method of transmitting OSI layer 2 datacoms data by direct incorporation
into a plurality of synchronous digital hierarchy virtual containers is disclosed,
in which a higher bit rate OSI layer 2 data frame is multiplexed into a
plurality of lower bit rate SDH (or SONET) virtual containers, which are transmitted
simultaneously and in parallel over a synchronous communications network. The plurality
of virtual containers are virtually concatenated by association of the payloads
of the plurality of virtual containers. Re-assembly of the OSI layer 2 data
frames from a plurality of virtually concatenated VCs is achieved by storing each
received VC payload corresponding to an OSI layer 2 data frame in a corresponding
respective memory location, and alternately reading interleaved bytes from the
plurality of payloads under control of a plurality of read pointers.
