The invention includes a method and apparatus for synchronously switching at least one plesiochronous signal within a network element. Specifically, a method according to one embodiment of the invention includes receiving the at least one plesiochronous signal, and mapping the at least one plesiochronous signal into at least one synchronous signal. The at least one synchronous signal includes at least one virtually-concatenated signal, where each of the at least one virtually-concatenated signal includes a plurality of sub-signals, and each of the sub-signals is adapted for being synchronously switched within the network element.