A policy-based management mechanism is provided, whereby the mechanism provides for at least the controlling of access to network resources, the integration of different frameworks into a common open standard, and modular components for assembling integrated date and voice services. The mechanism accomplishes this by using an access management component that checks for access credentials, a service management component that identifies which resources are available to a requester of resources, and a resource management component that manages the requested resources. In one exemplary implementation, a fourth component, the policy management component links the first three components such that a resource request gains access to resources based on policy decisions determined by the fourth component for the first three components.