Editing Backplane (section)

{{Short description|Group of electrical connectors specifically aligned}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
[[Image:PICMG-Backplane-Details.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Major components on a PICMG 1.3 active backplane]]
[[File:PDP-8I-backplane.jpg|thumb|Wire-wrapped backplane from a 1960s [[PDP-8]] minicomputer]]
A '''backplane''' or '''backplane system''' is a group of [[electrical connector]]s in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a [[computer bus]]. It is used to connect several printed circuit boards together to make up a complete [[computer system]]. Backplanes commonly use a [[printed circuit board]], but [[Wire wrap|wire-wrapped]] backplanes have also been used in [[minicomputer]]s and high-reliability applications.

A backplane is generally differentiated from a [[motherboard]] by the lack of on-board processing and storage elements. A backplane uses plug-in cards for storage and processing.