Digital Equipment to Sell Units to Quantum : Computers: The $400-million deal is the company’s latest attempt to stem staggering losses.

Digital Equipment Corp., struggling to cut costs amid towering losses, has agreed to sell its magnetic disk drive, tape drive, solid-state disk and thin-film heads businesses to Quantum Corp. for about $400 million, the companies said Tuesday.

The deal comes a day after the nation’s No. 3 computer maker outlined previously announced plans to slash about 20,000 jobs by next July 1 to reach its goal of a 65,000 total head count.

Just last week, Maynard, Mass.-based Digital said it would take a $1.2-billion charge for the fiscal year ended June 30 to cover the job cuts. The ailing company has amassed three years of losses totaling more than $3 billion. Next week it is expected to report yet another loss, this one for the year.

Digital employs about 5,000 people in the businesses it is selling to Quantum. None will be laid off, Digital said. Of the total, 3,500 are permanent and will be offered positions with Quantum. The remaining 1,500 are temporary workers and will continue in that capacity.

“The Digital people and their capabilities are the key and most important asset,” William Miller, Quantum’s chairman, said in a conference call.

“We have no intention of packing up the facility (in Shrewsbury, Mass.) and moving it to California,” he said.

Quantum, of Milpitas, Calif., is the largest U.S. supplier of hard disk drives for personal computers, desktop workstations and other computers. Its sales for the fiscal year ended in March were $2.1 billion.

The sale to Quantum, which is expected to close on or about Oct. 1, includes Digital’s 81% interest in Rocky Mountain Magnetics Inc., a developer of magneto-resistive head technology, which can sharply raise the storage capacity of a computer disk drive.

Quantum and Digital will also sign a supply agreement giving Quantum a substantial chunk of Digital’s internal hard disk drive requirements for its StorageWorks subsystems and core computer systems businesses.

Charles Christ, vice president of Digital’s components division, said the company retained the profitable part of its disk drive business while selling the loss-making portion to Quantum.

“What’s left is the storage subsystems and video server businesses, and these are profitable.”