A water absorbing material includes a granular core portion and a coating layer portion. The backplane interface adapter includes at least one receiver that receives input cells carrying packets of data; at least one cell generator that generates encoded cells which include the packets of data from the input cells; and at least one transmitter that transmits the generated cells to a switching fabric. The protective sleeve and decorative cover components may comprise a unitary construction or may comprise separate components which are attached together by various bonding materials.