Disappointing Sales
Ferranti, now as Ferranti-Packard, tried to sell the machine as-is to other airlines. The US market seemed to be entirely wrapped up by IBM and Univac, but there was no comparable system in Europe, where a number of airlines were looking at the US developments with interest. Obviously the Gemini would make an excellent product, and could be sold directly by Ferranti's existing UK-based sales force. Although the Canadian team had long ago given up being surprised by the UK computer division's odd decisions, when they decided not to use the Gemini and instead develop their own it seemed like an obvious insult. In the end the UK system would never be delivered; it was still being developed when Ferranti decided to sell off their entire computer division after years of losses.
Nevertheless the work did not go to waste. The engineering team convinced local management to support the development of a business computer aimed at the low-end of the mainframe market. They expanded the ReserVec system with additional hardware to directly support multitasking and various changes to make the system highly modular, making it more attractive to a wider variety of users. Sales of the new Ferranti-Packard 6000 were just starting when the UK headquarters used the design to sweeten the deal when selling off their UK computer divisions, handing the design to the ICT who took over production. This was much to the chagrin of the Canadian staff, most of whom quit in disgust. The FP-6000 became the ICT 1904, one of a line of similar machines which sold over 3,000 during the 1960s and 70s.
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