Ferranti
Ferranti or Ferranti International Signal plc by the time of its collapse, was a major UK electrical engineering and equipment firm, known primarily for their defense electronics and power grid systems.
Ferranti is also famous in the computer industry for building the second commercial computer (the first being the Z4), the Ferranti Mark I, which went on sale in 1949 and started their computer business which lasted into the 1970s. They had influential collaborations with the University computing departments at Manchester and Cambridge, which resulted in the development of the Mercury and Atlas machines (Manchester); and the Atlas 2 (Cambridge) aka Titan machine.
History
Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti (1864-1930) was born in Liverpool, his Italian father a photographer and his mother a concert pianist. Ferranti showed a remarkable talent for electrical engineering from his childhood. His first invention, at the age of 13, was an arc light for street lighting. At the age of 16 he built and patented an electrical generator called the "Ferranti Dynamo" with the help of Lord Kelvin. He naturally went into this business in 1882 when he set up shop in London designing various electrical devices.
In the late 1880s there was a debate within the industry about the transmission of electrical power, known as the War of the Currents. Thomas Edison supported a direct current (DC) based system, largely due to his holding many key patents and having set up some power plants supplying DC power. His rival, Nikola Tesla, supported an alternating current system that was being backed by Westinghouse.
Ferranti bet on AC early on, and was one of the few experts in this system in the UK. In 1887 the London Electric Supply Corporation (LESCo) hired Ferranti for the design of their power station at Deptford. He designed the building, the generating plant and the distribution system. On its completion in 1891 it was the first truly modern power station, supplying high-voltage AC power that was then "stepped down" for consumer use on each street. This basic system remains in use today around the world.
Success followed and Ferranti started producing electrical equipment for sale. Soon the company was looking for considerably more room. Prices in the London area were too high, so the company moved to Hollinwood in Greater Manchester in 1896. By the end of the next decade Ferranti had amassed 176 patents for such things as the alternator, high-tension cables, circuit breakers, transformers and turbines.
Through the early part of the century power was supplied by small companies, typically as an offshoot of plant set up to provide power to local industry. Each plant supplied a different standard, which made the mass production of electrical equipment for home users rather difficult. In 1910 Ferranti started an effort to standardize the power supply, which eventually culminated in the National Grid in 1926.
New factories were set up in the north-west at Moston, Wythenshawe, Cheadle Heath and Gorton which were happy for the jobs. Eventually they set up branch-plants in Edinburgh, Dalkeith and Aberdeen as well as several British Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia and Singapore, as well as Germany and the US.
Electronics and Computers
During World War II, Ferranti became a major supplier of electronics. In the post-war era this became a large segment of their company, with various branches supplying radar sets, avionics and other military electronics, as well as their famous foray into computer design and manufacture in the late 1940s into the 1960s.
In collaboration with the University of Manchester they developed the MEG, Mercury and Atlas designs; later in 1961, in collaboration with University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory they developed the Titan (prototype Atlas 2) which was the mainstay of scientific computing in Cambridge for nearly 8 years. Their most popular vacuum tube computer was the PEGASUS.
Dissolution
Ferranti concentrated on their defence sales from the late 1980s. Bloodhound SAM for which they developed radar systems was a key money earner.
Ferranti purchased International Signal and Control (ISC), a Pennsylvania based defence contractor, in 1987 and was renamed Ferranti International Signal plc. Ferranti was reorganised, divisions which were set up include:
- Ferranti Computer Systems
- Ferranti Defence Systems Integration
- Ferranti Dynamics
- Ferranti Satcomms
- Ferranti Technologies
- International Signal & Control
In 1989 the Serious Fraud Office started criminal investigation regarding alleged massive fraud at International Signal & Control, then a subsidiary of Ferranti Internation Signal. In December 1991 James Guerin, founder of ISC and co-Chairman of the merged company, pleaded guilty before the federal court in Philadelphia to fraud committed both in the USA and UK. All offences which would have formed part of any UK prosecution were encompassed by the U.S. trial and as such no UK trial proceeded.
The massive financial and legal difficulties that resulted forced the company into bankruptcy in December 1993.
Fate of divisions of Ferranti
- Ferranti Computer Systems — Independent company
- Ferranti Defence Systems Integration — acquired by GEC-Marconi out of adminisration
- Ferranti Dynamics — acquired by GEC-Marconi in 1992
- Ferranti Satcomms — acquired out of administration by Matra Marconi Space in 1994.
- Ferranti Technologies — Independent company
- 50% share of Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems — acquired by GEC-Marconi
- Note: GEC had acquired certain defence businesses of Ferranti in 1990