Compounds. There are more carbon compounds than there are compounds of all other elements combined. The study of carbon compounds, both natural and synthetic, is called organic chemistry. Plastics, foods, textiles, and many other common substances contain carbon.
backplane is the shared capacity between interfaces on a switch switch fabric is also the shared capacity between interfaces on a switch and can also be the shared capacity between interfaces on multiple switches using some sort of interconnect, typically vendor specific.
A split backplane is often used to handle a large number of signals. Split backplane configurations will divide bus connections between two motherboards (one on either side of the daughterboards). Using two motherboards shortens the path of connections to daughterboards and often improves performance. See backplane for more information.