3M serial attached SCSI (SAS) connectors are offered in both device plug and backplane receptacle combo formats and are designed to the SFF-8482 specification. This standard was designed to support internal backplane environments which allow a direct connection from the hard disk drive (HDD) to the backplane (device-to-host). The SAS combo plug, 29 position from 3M is used on the device side (optical or HDD) and has a variety of features that makes it appealing for high-volume environments. The plug connector is available in two different configurations: surface-mount, vertical and straddle-mount, right angle. The surface-mount plug version is equipped with PCB guides to ensure the proper alignment between the HDD PCB and connector contact tails. The 3M SATA plug, 22 positions is designed for interoperability with the 29 position SAS receptacles.