The invention relates to an apparatus comprising arbitration and multiplexer (ARB/MUX) logic to arbitrate data from a plurality of different link layers of a plurality of different protocols of an interconnect; to multiplex data of the plurality of different link layers on a physical layer of the interconnect; to maintain a first virtual link state machine (VLSM) for a first one of the plurality of link layers; and to maintain a second VLSM for a second one of the plurality of link layers; wherein states in the first VLSM and the second VLSM correspond to states defined in a link state machine of the physical layer.