In one embodiment, an apparatus cascades groups of serialized data streams through devices, and performs operations based on information communicated therein. A received group of serialized data streams is aligned, but not framed, and forwarded to a next device (e.g., a next stage in a linear or tree cascaded formation of devices). Eliminating the framing and subsequent serialization operations performed on the received group of serialized data streams reduces the latency of communications through the cascaded devices, which can be significant when considered in relation to the high-speed communication rates. The received group of serialized data streams is also framed to create a sequence of data frames for processing (e.g., associative memory lookup operations, controlling multiplexing of received downstream serialized data streams, general or other processing) within the device.