Reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) startup Nistica is being acquired by its manufacturing partner, Fujikura Ltd. , the companies announced early Monday.

Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Nistica raised $31 million since 2005, including rounds of $8.5 million and $6.5 million in 2011 and 2010, respectively. NTT Electronics Corp. (NEL) is an investor and will continue to hold Nistica shares, the companies said. Fujikura has been an investor in Nistica since 2007.

Nistica is one of a few wavelength selective switch (WSS) vendors that's still independent. (The acquisition is expected to close by June 30.) The others are Capella Photonics Inc. and CoAdna Photonics Inc.

Why this matters
Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Nistica has been doing its manufacturing with Fujikura in Vietnam, so the acquisition isn't a total surprise. Moreover, Nistica didn't have many obvious buyers among the larger optical components vendors, particularly Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR), JDSU (Nasdaq: JDSU; Toronto: JDU) and Oclaro Inc. (Nasdaq: OCLR).

Optical components companies have been merging lately, building up breadth, but this deal looks more like a case of vertical integration, with Fujikura bringing one of its components suppliers in-house.

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— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading