Cisco Systems Inc

On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much of a connection between the servers that run corporate data centers and a handheld video camera you use to film family vacations. Yet both have somehow become part of the master plan at Cisco Systems Inc.

After growing into one of Silicon Valley's most prominent companies by selling behind-the-scenes computing products, Cisco is now expanding aggressively, using its hefty financial resources to go on the attack while other companies are just trying to survive.

Dell Inc. is introducing new server and storage products aimed at cost-conscious companies, betting that its emphasis on value can help win market share as competition intensifies.

The announcement on Tuesday comes as the corporate server market heated up considerably over the past week, with the much-anticipated entry of network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc, and widely-reported merger talks between market leader IBM and high-end server maker Sun Microsystems Inc.

Under pressure from the United States and Asia, the European Union proposed Monday to eliminate taxes on imports of newly developed high-tech goods in the hope of avoiding a lengthy and costly World Trade Organization dispute.

Brussels said it wants to "update and expand" a 1996 WTO agreement that ended tariffs on information technology equipment by granting the special treatment to new products that have entered the market since the accord went into effect.

The U.S. says these new products are already covered by the deal, and charges the 27-nation bloc with breaking the rules.

Ever wonder whether you'd be better off working some place else?

A new Web site called Glassdoor.com is trying to make it easier to find out by compiling free snapshots of the current salaries paid by hundreds of major employers, along with reviews anonymously written by current and past workers.

"We think it's super important that people are able to find a job where they can go home happy at the end of the day," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor's co-founder and chief executive.

The United States filed a complaint Wednesday with the World Trade Organization over European tariffs on three categories of high-tech goods, including flat-panel computer monitors and some printers.

The duties, which are as high as 14 percent, make U.S. exports less competitive in the European Union, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association. The group's members include Hewlett-Packard Co., Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.