Who developed the earliest stored-program computers, that was funded and purchased from Ferranti in the UK instead?
UTEC UTEC was a computer built at the University of Toronto (UofT) in the early 1950s. It was one of the first working computers in the world, although only built in a prototype form while awaiting funding for expansion into a full-scale version. This funding was eventually used to purchase a surplus Manchester Mark 1 from Ferranti in the UK instead, and UTEC quickly disappeared. The name was an acronym for "University of Toronto Electronic Computer".
Programmed Data Processor Programmed Data Processor (PDP), referred to by some customers, media and authors as "Programmable Data Processor, is a series of minicomputers made and marketed by the Digital Equipment Corporation from 1957 to 1990. The name "PDP" intentionally avoids the use of the term "computer" because, at the time of the first PDPs, computers had a reputation of being large, complicated, and expensive machines, and the venture capitalists behind Digital (especially Georges Doriot) would not support Digital's attempting to build a "computer"; the word "minicomputer" had not yet been coined. So instead, Digital used their existing line of logic modules to build a "Programmed Data Processor" and aimed it at a market that could not afford the larger computers.