In 1956, a team at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, began development of MUSE - a name derived from microsecond engine - with the aim of eventually building a computer that could operate at processing speeds approaching one microsecond per instruction, about one million instructions per second [REF].
At the end of 1958 Ferranti agreed to begin to collaborate with Manchester University on the project, and the computer was shortly afterwards renamed Atlas, with the joint venture under the control of Tom Kilburn.