FYI FYI (August 24, 2005)

SPAMMERS IN THE WORKS ... Mountain View's newest business has a message for spammers: Thanks, but no thanks. The proliferation of unsolicited e-mail traffic and spyware applications has meant booming business for Barracuda Networks . Founded in December 2003, the company has been turning a profit for the last year and a half. Last week, in search of more space for an increasing number of employees, Barracuda moved its headquarters from Sunnyvale to Ravendale Avenue. "It was vital to our operation to be positioned in a central Silicon Valley location with easy access to the main arteries of the area. Mountain View fit the bill perfectly," CEO Dean Drako said through a spokesman. The maker of anti-spam and anti-spyware firewalls has established offices in seven foreign countries. It counts NASA, the U.S. Treasury Department and Caltrans among its 20,000 mainly corporate customers.

GOING UPSCALE ... Safeway in the Sharon Heights shopping center is going upscale as it expands into space formerly occupied by Longs Drugs. Built in the mid-1960s, the store is being remodeled and expanded by about 20 percent to a total of 24,069 square feet. With the work scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1, the new Safeway will have the amenities of what the company calls its "Lifestyle" format, said Jennifer Webber, head of public affairs at Safeway's Northern California headquarters in Pleasanton. Shoppers are already using some of the new features. A new produce section and an expanded floral department are located where Longs used to be. Architectural renderings, posted on easels at each entrance to the store, give shoppers a view of changes ahead. A new seafood service (including sushi) and a meat department offering individual service are planned. Other amenities will be an olive bar, soup bar, more hot and cold prepared food, and an expanded bakery section. Remodeling at the Sharon Heights store began almost as soon as Longs Drugs moved from its former location and re-opened July 17, 2004, in a renovated and larger 10,000-square -foot space at the Sharon Heights shopping center, formerly occupied by Capriccio restaurant.

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