All Electronics carries a variety of ribbon cable with up to fifty conductors, sold by the foot. Ribbon cable (also known as multi-wire planar cable) is a cable with many conducting wires running parallel to each other on the same flat plane. As a result, the cable is wide and flat. Its name comes from its resemblance to a piece of ribbon. Ribbon cables are frequently used with internal computer peripherals, such as hard drives, but is useful anywhere a large number of conductors is required. Ribbon cable is usually used with IDC (insulation displacement connectors) which can be press-fit onto the cable and mate with standard configuration headers.
