An apparatus comprising a data framer configured to frame a data stream into a plurality of frames each comprising a plurality of fields sized to align the frames with a word boundary greater than or equal to about four bytes long, and an optical transmitter coupled to the data framer and configured to transmit the frames. Included is an apparatus comprising at least one component configured to implement a method comprising encapsulating a data stream with at least one Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Encapsulation Method (GEM) payload aligned with a word boundary at least about four bytes long, encapsulating the GEM payload with a GPON Transmission Convergence (GTC) frame aligned with the word boundary, and transmitting the GTC frame.