I am the production director of a corporate events company, we are currently planning a production/tour on which we want to use the I live editor software on a laptop with the 16 channel rack for sound control. We have hit a snag as we do need limited sound inputs at the mix position (2 stereo pairs) is their any product available that works over the net connections (optional b card) any help would be appreciated.
More research has lead us to conclude that we may have to put a Dante card in slot b and run a cable to a small input device but any other suggestion would be appreciated.
Port B Dante to a third party break-in box is a solution, as you say, especially if you are planning occasional multitrack recording.
An alternative would be Port B ACE to an xDR-16 at FoH, or keep the iDR-16 at FoH and deploy the xDR on stage. Either way you could tunnel the iLive control network through the Cat5 and get a wired laptop connection for Editor at FoH (as a backup in case of any wifi dropout).
Depending on the distance to FoH, you could do a small 4 or 8 pr snake and depending on the inputs, DI boxes. Should be less expensive than a dante card.