High speed bypass cable for use with backplanes

A bypass assembly, comprising:

• a first circuit board with a perimeter;
• a chip package mounted on the first circuit board;
• a backplane connector with a plurality of wafers and a plurality of terminals positioned in each of the wafers, the plurality of terminals positioned in a row and including signal terminals and ground terminals, the signal terminals being arranged in pairs and at least one of the ground terminals positioned between pairs of the signal terminals, wherein the terminals include contacts that extend from the respective wafer in a cantilevered manner, the contacts extending beyond the perimeter of the first circuit board;
• a plurality of cables including a first cable and a second cable, each of the plurality of cables including an insulative body portion with a pair of associated signal conductors extending lengthwise through the insulative body portion, the signal conductors of each pair being spaced apart, each cable of the plurality of cables including a ground shield that extends around the insulative body portion, the ground shield and signal conductors having opposing first and second free ends, wherein the first free ends are terminated to the signal and ground terminals in the first connector;
• and
• a second connector mounted to the second free end, the second connector configured to connect the signal terminals in the first connector that are in communication via the signal conductors to the chip package.