FERUT
While UTEC was being built a similar machine was under construction at Manchester University, known as the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (or "Baby"). Once it started working the university signed an agreement with Ferranti (in the UK) to build a full-scale machine eventually known as the Mark I. The new machine was delivered to the university in February 1951, making it the first commercial computer, about 1 month earlier than the UNIVAC I that was delivered to the US Census Bureau.
Ferranti had high hopes for further sales of the machine, and were happy when an order was placed by the British Atomic Energy Authority for delivery in autumn of 1952. However the government changed hands while the machine was being built, and all government contracts over 100,000 were cancelled outright. This left a partially completed Mark I sitting at Ferranti, who became interested in unloading it as soon as possible.
Word of the machine quickly reached the AECL, who suggested that they use the $300,000 set aside for the "new" UTEC to purchase the Mark I instead. The Computation Center considered the Mark I to be inferior to their own design and rejected it, notably because it used a serial math unit like their prototype and would thus be much slower.
The AECL was not terribly impressed but came up with a solution; if the Computation Center would buy the Mark I, another $150,000 would be made available to continue development of the UTEC, and an equal amount if they decided to actually build it. This sort of deal one does not refuse, and plans to ship the Mark I to Toronto were soon underway.
The machine arrived on April 30, 1952, at the time it was major news. Named Ferut (Ferranti, University of Toronto) by Worsley shortly before it arrived, it took the Ferranti engineers several months to set it up. Even then it became one of the first "large" machines to start operation in North America. Ferut would go on to be a major research system in Canada, being used by Ontario Hydro to calculate changes in water levels due to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, various development of the groundbreaking ReserVec system with Ferranti Canada for Trans Canada Airlines, and even rental of time for commercial seismic data processing.
The arrival of the Ferut also spelled the death of the UTEC project. Even with the additional funding, most of the engineers quickly drifted to the Ferut machine.
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