The IBM 2D35 is an 18-Slot SAS Small Form Factor Gen 3 (SFF-3) backplane designed for 4U rack-mount server enclosures. It serves a critical function in high-end IBM servers, enabling them to interface with up to 18 separate SAS drives, significantly expanding the servers' storage capabilities. Enhanced with an Expansion (Exp) Function, this backplane is equipped to support daisy-chaining, allowing multiple backplanes to connect and communicate within a single system, thus facilitating scalable storage solutions. It supports a wide range of SAS HDDs and SSDs, ensuring compatibility with various storage requirements and workloads. As part of IBM's commitment to reliability and performance, the 2D35 backplane features robust power management and cooling mechanisms, ensuring uninterrupted operation even under intense data processing tasks. This backplane is essential for businesses demanding high storage capacity and scalability in their server infrastructure, particularly those involved in data-intensive applications like databases, virtualization, and big data analytics.