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◈ALB Atlas

Ferranti Dead

Ferranti
KindCompany
Founded1885
Defunct1993
StatusDead
FoundersSebastian Ziani de Ferranti
FieldEarly computers
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗

British electrical giant turned computer pioneer — commercialized Manchester's Mark 1 and Atlas, built Pegasus. Collapsed in 1993 after a fraudulent acquisition hollowed it out.

Created Ferranti Pegasus Ferranti Atlas

Founded by Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, an electrical engineer who built one of the world's first high-voltage AC power systems (Deptford, 1891). The firm's computer division commercialized Manchester University's machines: the Mark 1 (1951, first commercial computer), Pegasus, and Atlas (1962).

Ferranti Semiconductor built Europe's first microprocessor-compatible devices. The 1987 acquisition of US defense contractor ISC — whose arms-sales revenue proved partly fraudulent — triggered the fraud investigation that sank Ferranti into receivership in 1993.

Sources

  1. bitsavers.org/pdf/ferranti/
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferranti