ATions> (US -ll- or -l-) The process of packing one or more items of dATa into a message buffer, prior to transmitting thAT message buffer over a communicATion channel. The packing process not only collects together values which may be stored in non-consecutive memory locATions but also converts dATa of different types into a standard representATion agreed with the recipient of the message. (2000-06-09)