The Ferranti Atlas Computer of the University of Manchester, England, became operational in 1962 as a joint development between the University, Ferranti and Plessey. It was arguably one of the world's first supercomputers, and the fastest computer in the world until the release of the CDC 6600. It was said at the time that whenever it went offline half of the UK computer capacity was lost. It was a second-generation computer, using germanium transistors.
Two other Atlas machines were built: one for British Petroleum and the University of London and one for the Atlas Computer Laboratory at Chilton near Oxford. A derivative system was built by Ferranti for Cambridge University, called the Titan or Atlas 2, which had a different memory organisation, and ran a time-sharing operating system developed by Cambridge Computer Laboratory.
The University of Manchester's Atlas system was eventually decommissioned in 1971. The last Atlas was in service until 1974. Parts of the Chilton Atlas are preserved by the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.