To sequentially link together two or more information units, such as character strings, packets, or frames, into a single unit. Concatenation allows the component units to transverse a network or subnetwork as a single entity, which not only ensures that they all work their way through the network together, but also reduces network processing time and, thereby, decreases latency. See also frame, network, packet, SONET, string, and subnetwork, and T1C.