Dell plans to announce Monday the first server to come with Intel's dual-core Xeon processor, a significant step in the allies' effort to catch up with technology from chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices.

Microsoft will be getting into the online advertising industry.

The move is part of Microsoft's broad response to the threat from Google, which is using its powerful advertising sales network to support an expanding range of free software products and Internet services. Last week, Microsoft announced a broad reorganization that placed MSN in the same group as its Windows operating system, indicating that it saw software delivered over the Internet--and possibly paid for through advertising--as central to its future.