It carries 152 positions total, arranged as 38 per port, and terminates via press-fit pins into the backplane or motherboard.
The cage integrates EMI shielding and a light pipe directly into the assembly. That means one pick-and-place step for the shielding can, one less separate LED holder to route on the board, and a cleaner panel face. The press-fit termination avoids the thermal cycle of reflow — the compliant pin cold-deforms into the plated through-hole, which is the preferred method for backplane connectors where rework access is limited and solder-joint inspection is impractical.
Compared to a single-port ZQSFP+ receptacle, the 2x2 ganged version of the 2227225-2 consolidates four ports into one connector body. The trade-off is board layout: the 152-position footprint is fixed, so you commit to populating all four ports or leaving some empty. A single-port variant uses fewer board layers for routing but requires four separate cages and more panel cutout area. The ganged cage also shares the EMI shielding wall between adjacent ports, which can improve crosstalk isolation at the cage boundary compared to separate cages butted together.