Editing Ferranti (section)

==History==

===Beginnings===
[[File:Ferranti two-phase generator set (Rankin Kennedy, Electrical Installations, Vol III, 1903).jpg|thumb|Ferranti steam generating set, c. 1900]]
 
[[Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti]] established his first business '''Ferranti, Thompson and Ince''' in 1882.<ref name=SWE>{{Cite web |url=http://www.swehs.co.uk/tactive/_S25-0.html |title=SWE Historical Society |access-date=1 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722074604/http://www.swehs.co.uk/tactive/_S25-0.html |archive-date=22 July 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The company developed the Ferranti-Thompson Alternator.  Ferranti focused on [[alternating current]] power distribution early on, and was one of the few UK experts. In 1885 Dr. Ferranti established a new business, with Francis Ince and Charles Sparks as partners, known as '''S.Z. de Ferranti'''.<ref name=timeline>[http://www.mosi.org.uk/collections/explore-the-collections/ferranti-online/timeline.aspx Ferranti Timeline] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003002335/http://www.mosi.org.uk/collections/explore-the-collections/ferranti-online/timeline.aspx |date=3 October 2015 }} – ''[[Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester)|Museum of Science and Industry]] (Accessed 22-02-2012)''</ref> According to J.F. Wilson,<ref name=Wilson>Ferranti and the British Electrical Industry J.F. Wilson  {{ISBN|0-7190-2369-6}}</ref> Dr. Ferranti's association with the [[electricity meter]] persuaded Ince to partner him in this new venture, and meter development was fundamental to the survival and growth of his business for several decades to come.

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 [[Deptford Power Station|power station at Deptford]]. He designed the building, the generating plant and the distribution system and on its completion in October 1890, it was the first truly modern power station. It supplied high-voltage AC power at 10,000 volts, which was transformed to a lower voltage for consumer use where required.<ref name=SWE/>

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/>

The business was restructured in 1905, Dr. Ferranti's shareholding being reduced to less than 10%.<ref name=timeline /> For the next eleven years the company was run by receiver managers and Dr. Ferranti was effectively excluded from commercial financial strategies. He spent much of this period working in partnership with the likes of J.P. Coats of Paisley on cotton spinning machinery and [[Vickers]] on re-superheating turbines.<ref name=Wilson/>

===Expansion===
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 domestic electrical equipment inefficient.  In 1910, Dr. Ferranti made a presidential speech to the [[Institution of Electrical Engineers|IEE]] addressing this issue, but it would be another sixteen years before the commencement of the [[National Grid (Great Britain)|National Grid]] in 1926.<ref name=Wilson/>

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-1950s at a time when there was growth in the power supply distribution industry.

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> After restructuring, it was returned to the private sector in 1980 as a profitable company.<ref name="Narchive">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/national-enterprise-board-neb.htm |title=National Enterprise Board|publisher=Cabinet Papers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308202242/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/national-enterprise-board-neb.htm |accessdate=16 March 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021 }}</ref>

===Defence electronics===
[[File:Ferranti Mark IID gyroscopic gunsight mounted in a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX of No. 127 Wing RAF at B2-Bazenville, Normandy, 17 August 1944. CL854.jpg|thumb|right|Spitfire gyro gunsight]]

During World War II, Ferranti became a major supplier of electronics, [[fuze]]s<!--'fuze' is appropriate - see [[Fuse (explosives)]]-->, [[vacuum tube|valves]], and was, through development of the [[Identification Friend or Foe]] (IFF) system, heavily involved in the early development of [[radar]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name=timeline/> In the post-war era, this became a large segment of the company, with various branches supplying radar sets, [[avionics]] and other military electronics, both in the UK and the various international offices.
In 1943, Ferranti opened a factory at [[Crewe Toll]] in Edinburgh to manufacture [[gyro gunsight]]s for the [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire]] aircraft.<ref name=timeline/> After the war they set up [[Kenyon Taylor#Ferranti Scotland|Ferranti Research]] to complement this business which grew to employ 8,000 staff in 8 locations, becoming the birthplace of the Scottish [[electronics industry]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1951/jun/26/electronics-industry#S5CV0489P0_19510626_CWA_126|date=26 June 1951|title=Electronics Industry (Hansard, 26 June 1951)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}</ref> and a major contributor to company profitability. Later products included solid state ring laser gyros.

From 1949, [[Ferranti-Packard]] assisted the Royal [[Canadian Navy]] develop [[DATAR]] (Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving). DATAR was a pioneering computerized battlefield information system that combined [[radar]] and [[sonar]] information to provide commanders with an "overall view" of a battlefield, allowing them to coordinate attacks on submarines and aircraft.<ref name=ieee>John Vardalas, "[http://ieee.ca/millennium/fp6000/fp6000_datar.html From DATAR To The FP-6000 Computer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116063849/http://ieee.ca/millennium/fp6000/fp6000_datar.html |date=16 January 2006 }}", ''IEEE Annals of the History of Computing'', Vol 16 No 2, 1994</ref>

In the 1950s, work focused on the development of airborne radar, with the company subsequently supplying radars to most of the UK's fast jet and helicopter fleets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-128-889-C|title=Scran Web Site|website=Scran}}</ref> Today the Crewe Toll site (now part of [[Leonardo S.p.A.]]) leads the consortium providing the [[Euroradar CAPTOR]] radar for the [[Eurofighter Typhoon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2009/04/the-first-asta-simulator-for-the-eurofighter-typhoon-operational |title=Eurofighter Typhoon &#124; the first ASTA Simulator for the Eurofighter Typhoon Operational |access-date=2015-04-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413120617/http://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2009/04/the-first-asta-simulator-for-the-eurofighter-typhoon-operational |archive-date=13 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, inertial navigation systems became an important product line for the company with systems designed for fast jet (Harrier, Phantom, Tornado), space and land applications.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/23674|title=The Ferranti Inertial Land Surveying System (FILS) as part of an integrated navigation and positioning system|first=John E.|last=Hagglund|date=19 November 1987|publisher=Engineering|doi=10.11575/PRISM/15052 |isbn=9780315359819 |via=dspace.ucalgary.ca}}</ref> The electro-mechanical inertial navigation systems were constructed at the Silverknowes site in [[Edinburgh]]. In addition to their other military and civil applications, they were used in the ESA [[Ariane 4]] and first [[Ariane 5]] launches. Ferranti also produced the PADS (Position and Azimuth Determining System), an inertial navigation system which could be mounted in a vehicle and was used by the British Army.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gB7w9XlNJAC&q=Ferranti+Position+and+Azimuth+Determining+System&pg=PA302|title=The Surveying Handbook|first1=Russell Charles|last1=Brinker|first2=Roy|last2=Minnick|date=19 November 1995|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780412985119|via=Google Books}}</ref>

With the invention of the laser in the 1960s, the company quickly established itself in the electro-optics arena. From the early 1970s, it was delivering the ''Laser Rangefinder and Marked Target Seeker'' (LRMTS) for the Jaguar and Harrier fleets, and later for Tornado.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_12.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206192256/http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_12.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=6 February 2007|title=Vectorsite.net}}</ref> It supplied the world's first man-portable laser rangefinder/designator ([[Laser designator|Laser Target Marker]], or LTM) to the British Army in 1974,<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Lasers on beam. |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200157.html |format=PDF|journal=[[Flight International (magazine)|Flight International]]|date=23 January 1975 |access-date= 7 April 2015}}</ref> and had notable successes in the US market, establishing Ferranti Electro-optics Inc in [[Huntington Beach, California]].  Its [[TIALD]] Pod (Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator) has been in almost constant combat operation on the [[Panavia Tornado|Tornado]] since it was rushed into service during the first Gulf War.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/25321.shtml|title=TIALD: The Gulf War GEC Ferranti|access-date=13 December 2008|archive-date=16 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216201538/http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/25321.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From the 1960s through to the late 1980s, the Bristol Ferranti [[Bloodhound SAM]], for which Ferranti developed radar systems, was a key money earner.
In 1970, Ferranti became involved in the sonar field through its involvement with Plessey in a new series of sonars, for which it designed and built the computer subsystems.  This work later expanded when it won a contract for the complete Sonar 2050. The work was originally carried out at the Wythenshawe factory and then at Cheadle Heath. Takeovers of other companies gave it expertise in sonar arrays. This business later became [[Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems]].<ref name="Friedman2006">{{cite book|author=Norman Friedman|title=The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4S3h8j_NEmkC|year=2006|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-55750-262-9}}</ref>

The selection of the radar for the project that became the Eurofighter Typhoon became a major international issue in the early 1990s.  Britain, Italy, and Spain supported the Ferranti-led [[ECR-90]], while Germany preferred the MSD2000 (a collaboration between [[Hughes Aircraft|Hughes]], AEG and GEC).  An agreement was reached after UK Defence Secretary [[Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater|Tom King]] assured his German counterpart [[Gerhard Stoltenberg]] that the British government would underwrite the project and allow [[General Electric Company plc|GEC]] to acquire Ferranti Defence Systems from its troubled parent.<ref>{{cite news | first = Charles  | last = Miller | title = Radar Deal Keeps Britain in Forefront of Airborne Technology | publisher = The Press Association Ltd.| date = 1990-05-08}}</ref> Hughes sued GEC for $600 million for its role in the selection of the EFA and alleged that it used Hughes technology in the ECR-90 when it took over Ferranti.  It later dropped this allegation and was awarded $23 million; the court judged that the MSD-2000 "had a real or substantial chance of succeeding had GEC not tortuously intervened&nbsp;... and had the companies, which were bound by the Collaboration Agreement, faithfully and diligently performed their continuing obligations thereunder to press and promote the case for MSD-2000."<ref>{{cite news | title=Court finds GEC 'intervened' on behalf of onetime EFA rival Ferranti | work = Aerospace Daily | publisher = McGraw-Hill Inc. | page = 398 | date = 1994-03-15}}</ref>

[[File:Ferranti All-Wave Superhet 1937.jpg|thumb|Ferranti 837 All-Wave Superhet radio (1937), made of [[Bakelite]]|alt=]]
[[File:Ferranti Model 255 vacuum tube radio, 1956 (24826639262).jpg|thumb|Ferranti radio]]

===Industrial electronics===

The company began marketing optical position measuring equipment for machine tools in 1956.<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Langrish
 | first =J
  | title =Wealth from Knowledge
 | publisher =Springer
  | date =20 January 1970 |page=264
 | isbn =9781349010547
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ooavCwAAQBAJ&q=%22ferranti%22+digital+position+measuring&pg=PA260
 }}</ref> Moire fringes produced by diffraction gratings were the basis for the position measurement. In the late 1980s there were several sections of the company involved in non-military areas. These included microwave communications equipment (Ferranti Communications), and petrol (gas) station pumps (Ferranti Autocourt). Both of these departments were based at [[Dalkeith]], Scotland.

===Computers===
[[File:FerrantiPegasusComputer1959.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ferranti Pegasus]] computer in The [[Science Museum, London]]]]
In the late 1940s Ferranti joined with various university-based research groups to develop [[computer]]s. Their first effort was the [[Ferranti Mark 1]], completed in 1951,<ref name=timeline/> with about nine delivered between 1951 and 1957.  The [[Ferranti Pegasus|Pegasus]] introduced in 1956 was their most popular [[vacuum tube|valve]] (vacuum tube) system,<ref name="emt">{{cite journal |title=UK electronics - a fallen or sleeping giant? |date=2008-04-15 |journal=Electronic Product - Design & Test |author-first=Anand |author-last=Sethi |url=http://www.emtworldwide.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=14402 |access-date=2018-07-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718164801/http://www.epdtonthenet.net/article.aspx?ArticleID=14402 |archive-date=2018-07-18}}</ref> with 38 units sold. {{anchor|Cluff–Foster–Idelson code}}Circa 1956, Ivan Idelson, at Ferranti, originated the ''Cluff–Foster–Idelson coding'' of characters on 7-track paper tape for a [[BSI Group|BSI]] committee.<ref name="Savard_2005">{{cite web |title=Computer Arithmetic |at=The Early Days of Hexadecimal |author-first=John J. G. |author-last=Savard |date=2018 |orig-year=2005 |work=quadibloc |url=http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cp02.htm |access-date=2018-07-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716102439/http://www.quadibloc.com/comp/cp02.htm |archive-date=2018-07-16}} (NB. Also has information on the Elliott 503 character set.)</ref> This also inspired the development of [[ASCII]].<ref name="emt"/>

In collaboration with the [[Victoria University of Manchester]] they built a new version of the famous Mark 1 that replaced valve [[diode]]s with [[solid state (electronics)|solid state]] versions, which allowed the speed to be increased dramatically as well as increasing reliability.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.computer50.org/mark1/MM1.html#finalspec | title=The Manchester Mark 1, Final Specification -- October 1949 | work=Computer 50: The [[University of Manchester]] Celebrates the Birth of the Modern Computer | date=1999 | access-date=26 November 2012 | author-first=Brian |author-last=Napper | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209155638/http://www.computer50.org/mark1/MM1.html#finalspec | archive-date=9 February 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Ferranti offered the result commercially as the [[Ferranti Mercury|Mercury]] starting in 1957, and eventually sold nineteen in total. Although a small part of Ferranti's empire, the computer division was nevertheless highly visible and operated out of a former [[Gorton locomotive works|steam locomotive factory]] in [[West Gorton]].

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]] 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 was tired of the market and were looking for someone to buy the entire division. Eventually it was merged into [[International Computers and Tabulators]] (ICT) in 1963, becoming the Large Systems Division of [[International Computers Limited|ICL]] in 1968. After studying several options, ICT selected the FP 6000 as the basis for their [[ICT 1900 series]] line which sold into the 1970s.

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-1960s.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunications2006.org.uk/RADAR%20IN%20THE%20AUTOMATED%20COMPUTER%20WORLD.pdf |title=A history of autonated AIO's |publisher=HMS Collingwood's Historic Collection |access-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624053423/http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunications2006.org.uk/RADAR%20IN%20THE%20AUTOMATED%20COMPUTER%20WORLD.pdf |archive-date=24 June 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some of these machines remained in active service on naval vessels for many years. The ''FM1600B''<ref name="Ferranti_1968"/> was the first of the range to use integrated circuits and was used in many naval and commercial applications. The ''FM1600D'' was a single-[[19-inch rack|rack]] version of the computer for smaller systems. An airborne version of this was also made and used aboard the [[RAF]] [[Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod|Nimrod]]. The ''FM1600E'' was a redesigned and updated version of the FM1600B, and the last in the series was the ''F2420'', an upgraded FM1600E with 60% more memory and 3.5 times the processing speed, still in service at sea in 2010.<ref name="Friedman2006"/>      <!--what about the M700?-->

===Semiconductors===
[[File:Timex Sinclair 1000 Motherboard BL (cropped Ferranti ULA).jpg|thumb|Ferranti {{abbr|ULA|Uncommitted Logic Array}} 2C210E on a [[ZX81|Sinclair ZX81]] (a.k.a. Timex Sinclair 1000) motherboard]]
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>

=== Acquisition of International Signal and Control ===
In 1987 Ferranti purchased [[International Signal and Control]] (ISC), a United States defence contractor based in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name=isc>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jacobsmeyer.com/Marquardt/Appendix%20A.htm |title=The ISC / Ferranti Scandal |access-date=13 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217014151/http://www.jacobsmeyer.com/Marquardt/Appendix%20A.htm |archive-date=17 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The company subsequently changed its name to '''Ferranti International PLC.''' and restructured the combined business into the following divisions: Ferranti Computer Systems, Ferranti Defence Systems, Ferranti Dynamics, Ferranti Satcomms, Ferranti Telecoms, Ferranti Technologies and International Signal and Control.

===Collapse===
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-chairman of the merged company, pleaded guilty before the federal court in [[Philadelphia]] to fraud committed both in the US and UK. All offences which would have formed part of any UK prosecution were encompassed by the US trial and as such no UK trial proceeded.<ref name=isc/>

The financial and legal difficulties that resulted forced Ferranti into [[bankruptcy]] in December 1993.<ref name=timeline/>