Ferranti MRT

History

Ferranti Plc produced two versions of the MRT, the MRT-100 and MRT-200, based on a 1978 prototype called the Questronic. The Questronic had been designed at Sheffield University as part of a collaboration between the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and the Department of Geography. The IBM PC was introduced on 12 August 1981, and handheld computers appeared in July 1980 with the Tandy Pocket Computer, followed by Matsushita's handheld under Panasonic and Quasar brands. Unlike these general-purpose devices, the MRT was application-specific.

Product Description

Deborah Martell described the Ferranti MRT in the 1987 book "Management Information Systems: The Technology Challenge" as a battery-operated, hand-held, data-capture terminal that served as an electronic replacement for the clipboard and pencil used in gathering consumer information. It offered advantages for survey research: data was stored electronically and could be directly entered into a computer, eliminating the data preparation stage and reducing errors from human processing.

Survey results could be more topical because the MRT decreased time delays in preparation. Other benefits included decreased handling and stationary costs and increased interviewer productivity. The Questronic MRT procedures allowed more specific monitoring of TV effects through instant processing abilities, removing the traditional bottleneck at the data preparation stage. The MRT also supported easy transmission of collected data through telephone lines using a portable modem, which was cutting-edge technology at the time.

The commercial Internet did not arrive until 1995 when NSFNET was decommissioned, meaning the Ferranti MRT was in use for over ten years before the commercial Internet.