Cisco Systems announced Wednesday it will eliminate about 4,000 jobs, saying it needs to pare down middle management to speed up decision-making and execution. The company didn't say when or in what regions the cuts would take place, but it expects to incur related costs of about $550 million. About $250 million to $300 million of those costs will be taken in the first quarter of the company's 2014 fiscal year, which began July 28.