The invention includes a method for processing messages at a component. One method includes receiving a message formed according to an embedded protocol or an external protocol, processing a portion of the received message for identifying the protocol used to form the message, and processing the received message using the identified protocol. The portion of the received message is formed using a comparison between at least one characteristic associated with the embedded protocol and at least one characteristic associated with the external protocol. Another method includes receiving, at a first type-one component, a message from one of a second type-one component or a type-two component, processing a portion of the message for identifying a protocol adapted for processing the received message, and processing the received message using the identified protocol.