The Smith School and Avaya Inc., a leading global provider of business communications software, systems and services, recently announced an expansion of Smith-Avaya’s research and development relationship and activities. Smith will work with Avaya to create a “virtual community” making it easier for students, faculty and staff members to communicate. Voiceover IP phones were installed in Van Munching Hall this summer as part of the program. The Smith School and Avaya will also build on previous collaborative research to extend communications in radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor networks into supply chain management and healthcare scenarios, and in event-triggered conferencing for crisis situations.--AT