With its unique open pin-field design, the I-Trac Backplane Connector System from Molex Inc. offers designers the flexibility to assign high-speed differential pairs, low-speed signals, power, and ground contacts anywhere within the pin-field. The system features a broadside-coupled, skew-equalized design that handles speeds up to more than 12.5 GHz. Designers can stack the press-fit, mono-block system end-to-end to meet their pin-count requirements. It is well-suited for standard and orthogonal architectures in server, storage, telecommunications, and data networking applications. The I-Trac supports quad trace routing, which reduces pc board layer count and the associated cost. In an orthogonal architecture, the system eliminates the need for pc board traces through the use of shared vias.
Available in a variety of row and column sizes (see the Figure), the I-Trac System consists of backplane signal header modules and daughter-card signal modules. It comes in standard 7-, 11- and 15-row versions, with a 5-row version planned for release in the near future. Module sizes range from 56 to 300 circuits. Other tooled derivatives are also available, including a right angle male (RAM) version for coplanar applications and a mezzanine version for parallel board-to-board, as well as reverse-gender solutions. The Molex I-Trac System offers flexibility at an affordable cost. For example, an 11-row Backplane Connector System is priced at $0.07 per mated line in volume. Lead time is six to eight weeks. For more information, go to www.molex.com/product/itrac.html.