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Despite being a prime exponent of alternating current, Ferranti became an important supplier to many electric utility firms and power-distribution companies for both AC and DC meters.<ref name="Gooday2004">{{cite book|author=Graeme Gooday|title=The Morals of Measurement: Accuracy, Irony, and Trust in Late Victorian Electrical Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6jn62r5r2AC&pg=PA232|date=1 April 2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43098-2|pages=232–}}</ref>
In 1887, the London Electric Supply Corporation (LESCo) hired Dr. Ferranti for the design of their [[
Success followed and Ferranti started producing electrical equipment (especially transformers) for sale. Soon the company was looking for considerably more manufacturing space. Land prices in the London area were too high, so the company moved to [[Hollinwood, Greater Manchester|Hollinwood]] in [[Oldham]] in 1896.<ref name=timeline/> In July 1901, Ferranti Limited was formed, specifically to take over the assets of S.Z. de Ferranti Ltd and raise equity, but failed to impress potential new investors as it was still dominated by family ownership. Over-optimistic market projections in the boom of 1896–1903, declining revenues and liquidity problems, forced the company bankers Parrs to send the company into receivership in 1903.<ref name=Wilson/>
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In 1912, in a move driven by A.B. Anderson, the Ferranti Managing Director, Ferranti formed a company in Canada, [[Ferranti-Packard|Ferranti Electric]], to exploit the overseas meter market. But in 1914, two significant events happened, Anderson drowned on his return from Canada in the [[Empress of Ireland]] sinking and the outbreak of WWI signalled an opportunity for Dr. Ferranti to once again get involved in day-to-day events in the company.<ref name=pioneers/> He wanted to get involved in the manufacture of shells and fuzes but it wasn't until 1915 that he finally convinced the board to accept this. As a result of this work Ferranti were in a healthier financial position at the end of the war.<ref name=pioneers>''Ferranti Packard: Pioneers in Canadian Electrical Manufacturing'' Norman R. Ball, John N. Vardalas {{ISBN|0-7735-0983-6}}
{{ISBN|978-0-7735-0983-2}}</ref>
High voltage power transformers became an important product for Ferranti;<ref name=timeline /> some of the largest types weighed over a hundred tons. Dr. Ferranti's son [[Vincent Ziani de Ferranti|Vincent]] joined the transformer department as manager in 1921 and was instrumental in expanding the work started by his father. After the death of Dr. Ferranti in 1930, he became the chairman and chief executive.<ref name=Wilson/> In 1935, Ferranti purchased a disused wire drawing mill at [[Moston, Greater Manchester|Moston]]: from here it manufactured many "brown goods" such as televisions, radios, and electric clocks.<ref name=timeline/> The company later sold its radio and television interests to [[EKCO]] in 1957. Production of clocks ended in 1957 and other product lines phased out in 1960<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Ferranti|title=Ferranti - Graces Guide|website=www.gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref> Ferranti Instruments, based at Moston, developed various items for scientific measurements, including one of the first [[viscometer#Rotational viscometers|cone and plate viscometer]]s. Ferranti built a new power transformer works at Hollinwood in the mid
By 1974, Ferranti had become an important supplier to the defence industry, but its power transformer division was making losses, creating acute financial problems. This led to the company being bailed out by the government's [[National Enterprise Board]], taking a 65% share of the company in return.<ref name=family>''Ferranti: A History - Building a Family Business 1882–1975 J.F. Wilson'' {{ISBN|1-85936-098-X}}</ref>
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Work on a completely new design, the [[Atlas (computer)|Atlas]],<ref name=emt/> started soon after the delivery of the Mercury, aiming to dramatically improve performance. Ferranti continued their collaboration with the University of Manchester, and Plessey Co., plc, became a third partner. The [[second generation computer|second generation]] [[supercomputer]] first ran in December 1962. Eventually six machines were built, one of which was a stripped-down version that was modified for the needs of the [[University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory]]; the [[Titan (1963 computer)|Titan]] (or ''Atlas 2'') was the mainstay of scientific computing in Cambridge for nearly 8 years. Atlas was the first computer in the world to implement [[virtual memory]].
By the early 1960s their mid-size machines were no longer competitive, but efforts to design a replacement were bogged down. Into this void stepped the Canadian division, [[Ferranti-Packard]], who had used several of the ideas under development in England to very quickly produce the [[Ferranti-Packard 6000]].<ref name=ieee/> By this time Ferranti's management
The deal setting up ICT excluded Ferranti from the commercial sector of computing, but left the industrial field free. Some of the technology of the FP 6000 was later used in its [[Ferranti Argus]] range of industrial computers which were developed in its [[Wythenshawe]] factory. The first of these, simply ''Argus'', was initially developed for military use.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~wylie/Argus/ferranti.htm | title=The Ferranti Argus Computers | date=2009 | access-date=26 November 2012 | author=Wylie, Andrew | archive-date=7 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207124435/http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~wylie/Argus/ferranti.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Meanwhile, in [[Bracknell]] the Digital Systems Division was developing a range of mainframe computers for naval applications. Early computers using discrete transistors were the ''Hermes'' and ''Poseidon'' and these were followed by the ''F1600'' in the mid
===Semiconductors===
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Ferranti had been involved in the production of electronic devices, including [[Vacuum tube|radio valves]], [[cathode-ray tube]]s and [[germanium]] semiconductors for some time before it became the first European company to produce a [[silicon]] [[diode]], in 1955. In 1972 they launched the [[ZN414]], a single-chip [[Amplitude modulation|AM]] radio [[integrated circuit]] in a 3-pin package.
Ferranti Semiconductor Ltd. went on to produce a range of silicon bipolar devices, including, in 1977, the [[Ferranti F100-L]], an early 16-bit [[microprocessor]] with 16-bit addressing.<ref>{{cite book|title=Europe's first home grown microprocessor faces stiff competition, New Scientist 30 September 1976|url={{Google books|5rH7T60TWMAC|page=695|plainurl=yes}}|page=695}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> An F100-L was carried into space on the [[amateur radio satellite]] UoSAT-1 (OSCAR 9). Ferranti's ZTX series bipolar transistors gave their name to the inheritor of Ferranti Semiconductor's discrete semiconductor business, [[Zetex Semiconductors|Zetex Semiconductors plc]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.diodes.com/zetex.html |title=Zetex Semiconductors Website, Zetex DiodesĀ - Diodes, Inc |access-date=6 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120170441/http://www.diodes.com/zetex.html |archive-date=20 January 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the early 1980s, Ferranti produced some of the first large [[Gate array|uncommitted logic arrays]] (ULAs), used in [[home computer]]s such as the [[Sinclair Research|Sinclair]] [[ZX81]], Sinclair [[ZX Spectrum]], [[Acorn Electron]] and [[BBC Micro]]. The microelectronics business was sold to [[Plessey]] in 1988.<ref>'Plessey to pay £30m for Ferranti's chip business', in ''[[Computergram International]]'', 27 November 1987, p. 1</ref>
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Unknown to Ferranti, ISC's business primarily consisted of illegal arms sales started at the behest of various US clandestine organizations. On paper the company looked to be extremely profitable on sales of high-priced "above board" items, but these profits were essentially non-existent. With the sale to Ferranti all illegal sales ended immediately, leaving the company with no obvious cash flow.<ref name=isc/>
In 1989 the UK's [[Serious Fraud Office (United Kingdom)|Serious Fraud Office]] started criminal investigation regarding alleged massive fraud at ISC. In December 1991 James Guerin, founder of ISC and co-
The financial and legal difficulties that resulted forced Ferranti into [[bankruptcy]] in December 1993.<ref name=timeline/>
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*Ferranti Tapchangers Ltd: Independent company, then acquired by UK-based grid control specialists Fundamentals Ltd [http://www.ferrantitapchangers.com/ Ferranti Tapchangers Ltd | Welcome] in 2017
*Ferranti Satcomms: Acquired out of administration by [[Matra Marconi Space]] in 1994
*Ferranti Technologies: Was bought out by management and continues in [[
*Ferranti Air Systems: Acquired by Datel then turned into an independent company. Later bought by [[Ultra Electronics]]. In 2019 acquired by ADB Safegate.
*[[Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems]]: A 50% share was acquired by [[GEC-Marconi]]. Now{{when|date=August 2019}} owned by Thales and renamed [[Thales Underwater Systems]].
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