Abstract: A broadcast facility is provided in a synchronous network comprising a number of nodes (b 20l ) coupled via a star coupler (b 21l ). Data is transmitted via the network in a sequence of frames. Each node with a public write to send transmits it to all system nodes (including itself) in the next available frame. Each node has its own identifying characteristic, e.g. a unique assigned frequency. These identifying characteristics determine the notional order in which data packets within a frame are received thus providing each frame with a timestamp.