Systems
Ferranti Mark 1
Commercial Computer
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The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by the British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the worlds first commercially available electronic general-purpose stored-program digital computer, described as the tidied up and commercialised version of the Manchester Mark I. The first machine was delivered to the Victoria University of Manchester in February 1951, ahead of the UNIVAC I, which was delivered to the United States Census Bureau on 14 June 1951.
Facts
SignificancePreceded as a commercial digital computer by the BINAC and the Z4, but distinguished from both: the Z4 was electromechanical and lacked software programmability, while BINAC never operated successfully after delivery, leaving the Ferranti Mark 1 as the first commercially available machine of its kind that actually worked. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Held Differently
BINAC, Systems Not a settled priority dispute in either machine's favor: BINAC is sometimes cited as preceding the Ferranti Mark 1 as a commercial digital computer, but it never operated successfully after delivery to its customer, which is the usual basis for crediting the Ferranti Mark 1 as the first commercially successful general-purpose computer instead.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Ferranti Mark 1
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Although preceded as a commercial digital computer by the BINAC and the Z4, the Z4 was electromechanical and lacked software programmability, while BINAC never operated successfully after delivery.
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