Route Reference Computer: Difference between revisions

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Ferranti had based both proposals on Philco's SB-100 transistor and their Transac logic circuit design. In production both proved to be less developed than hoped. The SB-100 was unreliable, and even working versions varied so widely in performance that the Transac logic circuits were unusable. Making matters worse, in late 1955 the Navy was forced to cancel development of the transistorized DATAR, placing the entire development cost on the Post Office budget. Ferranti burned through the initial $65,000 by early 1956, and several additional rounds of funding followed. Since the Post Office had no other plans on the books to address their problems, these were always forthcoming.<ref>Vardalas, pg. 115-117</ref>

By August 1956 the project was three times its original budget, and when TurbullTurnbull demanded an update, Ferranti finally told Levy about the problems they were having with the Transac circuitry and stated they had been forced to abandon it to develop their own. Their new design worked, but the equivalent circuits were larger and this caused problems trying to fit them into the original chassis. Levy, reporting back, was admonished by TurbullTurnbull, who was under increasing pressure to deliver the system. That month, [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] Postmaster critic [[William McLean Hamilton]] pressed for an update on "this million dollar monster",<ref name=v117>Vardalas, pg. 117</ref> and given an end-of-year date that was also missed.

The machine was finally delivered in January 1957,<ref name=v117/> and Turnbull was able to display it in working fashion that summer when the [[Universal Postal Union]] held its Congress meeting in Ottawa, the first in Canada. Interest was high, prompting postmasters from England and Germany to visit Ottawa to see the system, along with a similar visit by several U.S. Congressmen. Hopes of international sales were dimmed when the Congressmen returned to Washington and quickly arranged $5 million in funding for local development of a similar system.<ref name=v118>Vardalas, pg. 118</ref> [[Burroughs Corporation]] won a development contract the next year,<ref>James Cortada, [http://books.google.com/books?id=Iws7Trv_VdEC "The Digital Hand: How computers changed the work of American public sector industries"], Oxford University Press US, 2007, pg. 168</ref> emerging as the [[Multiple Position Letter Sorting Machine]] in the early 1960s.