Electrical cable assembly configured to be mounted onto an array of electrical contacts

A cable assembly comprising:

• a carrier board having a terminating side and a mounting side that face in opposite directions, the terminating side including a contact array of electrical contacts, the mounting side including a mating array of electrical contacts, the contact array and the mating array being interconnected to each other through conductive pathways of the carrier board, wherein the electrical contacts of the contact array include signal contacts that form two signal rows;
• and
• a plurality of cables having exposed signal conductors, the cables forming a first cable set and a second cable set, the signal conductors of the cables of the first cable set being terminated to the signal contacts of one of the signal rows, the signal conductors of the cables of the second cable set being terminated to the signal contacts of the other signal row, wherein the first cable set forms a first layer that extends adjacent to the terminating side and the second cable set forms a second layer that extends directly over the first layer, the first and second layers extending parallel to each other over the terminating side;
• wherein the terminating side extends parallel to a longitudinal axis and a lateral axis that are perpendicular to each other, the electrical contacts of the contact array forming a lateral group of pad sets, each of the pad sets including a pair of signal pads and a ground pad, wherein the pad sets alternate between a first longitudinal position and a second longitudinal position as the lateral group extends laterally across the terminating side.