Backplane connectors link daughtercards to a passive backplane, carrying power and high-speed signals between boards without cable runs. Telecom chassis, industrial controllers, defence computers, and rack-mounted systems all use them — anywhere multiple PCBs need to communicate across a shared bus over a long service life.

The format you need depends on the application. VPX (defined by VITA 46, with VITA 48 covering ruggedised mechanical and cooling implementation) handles vibration, wide temperature ranges, and multi-gigabit speeds well — it's largely displaced VME in new defence and aerospace designs since the late 2010s. CompactPCI Serial (CPCI-S) remains the go-to in telecom and industrial control where long product cycles and a large installed base matter. PCI Express backplane variants cover high-bandwidth compute — data centre, AI/ML accelerators, and NVMe-heavy storage.

Specifying them correctly comes down to a few things: signal density per slot, impedance matching at your data rates, mating cycle count if boards get swapped regularly, and environmental ratings — temperature class, vibration and shock rating (MIL-STD-810 for defence applications), and humidity resistance for harsh enclosures.

TRX sources backplane connectors from Amphenol, TE Connectivity, Molex, and Samtec through authorised distribution. There's no minimum order, so you can pull a handful to qualify a design before committing to production volumes. In-stock lines ship to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria. For parts that need to be sourced, we'll quote you an actual lead time.

Send us your part number or describe the application — we'll come back with availability and pricing.