It is common in building wiring closets where hubs and routers are located for distribution and/or storage of data, to have a plurality of racks and panels with multiple electrical interconnections formed by multiple cables. It is commonplace to have such electrical connections made by connection systems known as modular plugs and jacks, such as an RJ-45 connection system, or other systems such as an RJ-21 connection system. Separate connection systems have traditionally been used, due to the speed of the data, the need to minimize EMI radiation, as well as the need to minimize crosstalk between adjacent lines in the same connector.
Various electrical connection systems have been developed which provide for data interconnections and shielding of wires. Example connection systems are discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,649,829 and 5,380,223. However, these connector systems are generally constructed for situations where space is not at a premium, and generally these systems are constructed for operation at frequencies today considered to be of a standard to slow frequency range (e.g., at or below about 100 MHz).
To overcome some of the deficiencies of these systems, compact multichannel data interconnections have been developed. One such interconnection is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,255, assigned to Tyco Electronics Corporation. This interconnect type, known generally as an “MRJ21” connector, provides a connector within which two sets of twelve terminal pairs are provided. Such a connector has been used in systems for condensed, multichannel communications. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a twisted pair communications system 10 and associated high density device 12 is illustrated. In the example shown, an MRJ21 connector 14 is interconnected to six RJ-45 connectors 16a-f at the device, each of which uses four pairs of wires (8 total wires). The twisted pair communications device 12 includes associated RJ-45 jacks configured to receive the RJ-45 connectors 16a-f, and an MRJ connector configured to interconnect to the MRJ21 connector 14 and associated cable 18. As seen in this arrangement, the MRJ21 connector 14 allows for higher-density, combined channel communications between two or more devices, thereby increasing the density of wiring connectivity in circumstances where each of a number of channels of data (e.g., each channel being routed to a different RJ-45 connection).
FIG. 2 provides a schematic view of the twisted pair communications device of FIG. 1. As shown, a plurality of RJ-45 jacks 22a-f, configured to receive the RJ-45 connectors 16a-f, are interconnected to an MRJ21 connector port 20 via a circuit board 24. In this embodiment, since each RJ-45 jack 22 uses eight wires (i.e., four pairs), a maximum of six RJ-45 jacks can be interconnected to the MRJ21 connector port 24, thereby increasing the density of data communication. As shown in FIG. 3, a schematic illustration of the MRJ21 connector pinout capable of interconnection to the MRJ21 connector port 24 of the device of FIGS. 1-2 illustrates the existence of these 24 pairs of wires. Because interconnection to each RJ-45 jack 22a-f requires four pairs, each of the 24 pairs in the MRJ21 connector port 24 are occupied or associated with a particular RJ-45 wire from one of the RJ-45 jacks 22a-f. 
Systems such as those illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, as well as those mentioned in the patent references above, have deficiencies. In particular, the system of FIGS. 1-3 has a high density and therefore includes a number of closely-spaced wires within each connector. These wires can, at high frequency, have detrimental performance effects on each other, in the form of alien crosstalk and other forms of crosstalk interference. This interference causes signal degradation and data failures at higher frequencies. For networks implementing higher throughput data (e.g., 10 GbE communications) at frequencies up to and exceeding 250-500 MHz, existing high density connection schemes such as those discussed above therefore are inadequate.