By 1960, an IBM 709 had been installed at Aldermaston and the IBM 704 moved to Risley. Harwell continued to use both machines as well as the Ferranti Mercury on site.
Plans were now well in place for the upgrade of the IBM 709 in the short term to an IBM 7090 and by 1962 the rental of an IBM 7030 (Stretch) at Aldermaston. A strong case was being made for the purchase of a Ferranti Atlas for use by the AEA. Harwell, Winfrith and Culham needed more computer power (Risley would take over the IBM 7090 when Aldermaston got the Stretch).
The case for an Atlas to be situated at Harwell rather than Culham or Winfrith was mainly based on Culham being a single-discipline organisation, the remoteness of Winfrith and the presence next door to Harwell of the Rutherford Laboratory belonging to the National Institute for Research into Nuclear Science (NIRNS). This was providing free use of a major particle physics facility, NIMROD, to UK academics and itself had a need for computing power. It currently used the Harwell Mercury and Aldermaston machines but planned to install a Ferranti Orion.
Manchester University would install the first of the Atlas computers in 1963. Both Cambridge and London were making a case for a significant increase in the computer power available to them although neither could make the case for the purchase of an Atlas.
