Audio networking has been happeing in the field for several years, the loss of massive, heavy multicore has not been mourned by many who've have to lug it around the world. In the studio however, its not so prevelant. Focusrite aim to change all this by introducing RedNet, using the lovely redness of the Focusrite Red range, and the Dante compatible ethernet transport to shift up to 128 channels of audio about the building. The advantage is again the lack of expensive cable runs - you can use standard CAT5e cable, which costs next to nothing by comparisson to quality multicore cable.
Comprising several units plus a PCIe controller card, it will be coming onine in the Summer - check the Focusrite site for more.