Dante (Digital Audio Network Through Ethernet) is a proprietary protocol.
It has a strong position in live sound.
Yamaha is one of the big names using Dante.
One cable does it all. Dante does away with heavy, expensive analog or multicore cabling, replacing it with low-cost, easily-available CAT5e, CAT6, or fiber optic cable for a simple, lightweight, and economical solution. Dante integrates media and control for your entire system over a single, standard IP network.
Dante systems can easily scale from a simple pairing of a console to a computer, to large capacity networks running thousands of audio channels. Because Dante uses logical routes instead of physical point-to-point connections, the network can be expanded and reconfigured at any time with just a few mouse clicks.
Source: Audinate
Software available (Virtual Soundcard) for PC and Mac.
Focusrite RedNet 1 - 8 channel AD-DA converter with Dante
Amphenol - Amphe-Dante adaptor
Dante Ethernet in - two channel analogue output