any one ? Ethernet based near zero latency audio interface,
just seen this ?? sm
http://global.focusrite.com/rednet
Edit : not sure if its exactly an audio interface …!!!
It connects via MADI or AES3 (coaxial) connections.
The ethernet is only for daisy chaining devices or interconnecting systems.
It connects via ethernet, either with the dedicated focusrite RedNet PCIe card, or computer´s standard Ethernet port and Dante virtual soundcard.
Or MADI/AES3 
MADI /AES provides pure audio connections, and only provides the I/O s - to use it as “classicsl audio interface”, you need to use the ethernet connection.
So you could use these interfaces with RME madi cards or as a stereo interface on the first two channels.
Focusrite engineering to work with as low latency as FireWire using a standard ethernet connection means I can get rid of my old 1394 interfaces. 
Basically, for low latency, the GbEthernet connections are over a dedicated network with its own network switches, so requiring a separate card with the GbE connector. Interestingly, Focusrite recommends that the first 16x PCIe slot be used for best latency, which seems to directly conflict with the general recommendation that the principal video card go in that slot!
I don’t know if the same level of performance can be achieved if one’s computer already has a second Ethernet connection that could be dedicated for this purpose (with its own subnet). Presumably it depends upon where in the PCIe lanes priority queue the motherboard chipset places the GbE connections. I have put in a query to Audinate (makers of the Dante system and the PCIe card) to clarify this.
GbE give slightly better transfer rates than Firewire 800, but most importantly, the infrastructure bits (switches and cables) are cheap and readily available in any computer shop.
I have been wondering what to do when Firewire completely drops off the radar. Modern motherboards don’t have it, and the TI based Syba SD-PEX30009 PCIe card (http://www.syba.com/index.php?controller=Product&action=Info&Id=995) I bought does not work with my RME Firefaces, even though Universal Audio qualifies it as working for their Apollo interfaces.
I think GbE, is the future of audio. The Dante system (from Audinate) carries the clock over GbE as well, which makes for much easier distribution. Unfortunately, the Dante PCIe card is not cheap (AU$1150/UA$1000), and then there is the cost of the modules. The Focusrite RedNet 8-channel mic preamp and ADC is AU$2850).
Hopefully, someone will make a more integrated module for us with far less I/O requirements. Currently I have a RME Fireface at my mixing desk with the computer, and a Fireface 800 in the studio. With a small 4 mic/line/DI in/4 out module, several could be placed at optimal points in a studio, connected by only GbE cables. It would then be easy to expand in small increments as needs grew. I am querying Focusrite and RME for their intentions regarding Dante intefaces and modest I/O modules.
I already have two separate GbE connector feeds into my studio.
Hello Samwax,
Thanks for your thread.
Should you have any queries about RedNet, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Please let me know, if I can be of any further assistance to you.
With best regards,
Marcel // Focusrite Novation Support
Unfortunately, when I queried Focusrite directly, they just forward my details onto the Australian distributor, but they did not respond to my direct questions, either because they didn’t get them (Focusrite fault) or didn’t read what they got from Focusrite (distributor fault). Either way, “here we have a failure to communicate” (courtesy of ‘Cool Hand Like’ film). Such a situation tends to put one on the defensive early in a possible business relationship.
In querying Audinate, they wrote that because of the complexities of priorities within general purpose computers (which read more like a reason not to use them for ANYTHING), dedicating an Ethernet port for use with Dante’s software audio ‘card’, DVS, would not provide any advantage over using the main one.
As for the Dante PCIe card, Audinate wrote that it is available from Focusrite, not them directly. It is pretty impressive as it allows for 256 channels up to 192ksps and appears to software as a regular audio interface. Presumably there are ASIO drivers, which means that there is the possibly a finally being able to mix and match hardware from different manufacturers under ASIO.
@Focusrite_Novation
Please answer why Focusrite recommends using the first x16 PCIe slot when it is a general recommendation to use it for the primary video card and it is not even x16. Are their particular motherboards for which your recommendation will not work?
Is it because the PCIe channel priorities are ranked by slot number, and that audio users usually do not have video as a high priority? What about those doing video production?
And does Focusrite intend to do a compact Dante-based general-purpose audio device? Such a one having:
a) 4 mic/line/DI inputs.
b) 4 outputs.
c) External power supply, to enable PoE adaptors to be used to centrally power the devices from near the switch, which would probably help with reducing earth loops as well.
Such a one would allow placing them where they are individually required in the studio and at the mixing desk, solely connected by Cat5e/6 GbE cables. Would enable liberation from multiple long-run audio and clock cables, and a very easily scalable upgrade path for a small project studio as needs increase, without having to ditch perfectly usable interfaces just to get channel numbers increased.
I currently use RME Fireface 400 (at the mix console) and Fireface 800 (in the studio) but the latter is overkill. Both will be hard to manage when Firewire capabilities are no longer as readily available. Dedicated GbE is definitely the way to go, especially as the clock can be distributed over it as well.
I don’t know anything much about the hardware but if we are moving away from USB/1394 and dedicated buss systems, then that would be an excellent thing IMV.
Since I’ve started using an APU instead of a dedicated GPU, I have found my system to be vastly more stable and easier to manage in particular due to the fact of my motherboard using EFI.
Hello Marcel , you should know by now , i am the same person , who just purchased the Zero SL MK II, which kept crashing my Cubase 6.5 , now dumped aside , un u guys kept making me run in circles , issue still yet unsolved, let me not think about rednet 4 a while… sam