A method of communications at an encapsulating bridge includes receiving a packet having an unencapsulated-DA (destination address) and an associated encapsulation identifier. The unencapsulated-DA and the associated encapsulation identifier are used to determine a TxPort-unencapsulated network (unencapsulated network side transmit port) or an encapsulated-DA for the packet. This method reduces latency of processing by reducing lookups, thereby also increasing transmission bandwidth of the communications network. The invention also facilitates embodiments with reduced memory and processing requirements, as compared to conventional implementations. This method is particularly useful for MAC-in-MAC encapsulation.