Abstract: An exemplary system comprises a cage, a carrier board and a motherboard. The cage is mounted to the carrier board. The carrier board is connected to and oriented approximately normal to the motherboard. The carrier board may include at least one first conductor disposed on a surface of the carrier board and the motherboard may includes a socket for receiving the at least one first conductor of the carrier board. A small form factor pluggable may be connected in the cage and thereby coupled to the motherboard, thus permitting orientation of optical SFP modules normal to the motherboard allowing increasing module density in the limited space available on shelf in a rack.