System and method for movement of non-aligned data in network buffer model

A method is provided for transferring data between first and second nodes of a network. Such method includes requesting first data to be transferred by a first upper layer protocol (ULP) operating on the first node of the network; and buffering second data for transfer to the second node by a lower protocol layer lower than the first ULP, the second data including an integral number of standard size units of data including the first data. The method further includes posting the second data to the network for delivery to the second node; receiving the second data at the second node; and from the received data, delivering the first data to a second ULP operating on the second node. The method is of particular application when transferring the data in unit size is faster than transferring the data in other than unit size.