Ah, fresh blood! Tazz Networks Inc. is a new Top 10 entrant thanks to savvy positioning in a market that lots of people have ignored.

That market is policy management, one of the hottest technology topics in telecom today – just ask any carrier planning a next-generation IP network. That's because policy management platforms are at the heart of the broadband service provisioning process, and they're becoming increasingly important as broadband becomes more ubiquitous.

Basically, without a policy management platform, carriers will lack the ability to efficiently manage and control bandwidth or determine whether network users have the right to use certain services. This could prove the difference between a profitable and an unprofitable service, and it will be crucial for services requiring real-time resource provisioning, such as video on demand and videoconferencing.

The best thing about Tazz is that it was early. The team latched onto this four years ago when they started developing technology that can automate many of the vital decision-making processes and enable customers to self-provision services. Those capabilities have resulted in Tazz's policy manager being pre-integrated into {dirlink 2|19} metro solutions.

The Cisco relationship, and a lengthy carrier validation process in {dirlink 5|21}'s labs, led to Tazz being named as a technology provider for the British carrier's now fabled 21st Century Network, or 21CN, giving the Tazz marketing team one of the industry's most high-profile account references (see BT's 21CN: Metro Partners Under Wraps and BT, Tazz Team on IP Services). With Cisco and BT, Tazz has some serious credibility.

In addition, it seems likely that the technical capabilities displayed by Tazz's policy management platform are about to become even more sought after, and not just by the multiple carriers looking to migrate towards intelligent IP-based networks. It's still relatively early for the policy management market, as such systems "will really come into their own as more services and subscribers are added," says Heavy Reading analyst at large Graham Beniston.

As more and more operators recognize the worth of such capabilities, so the major equipment suppliers will recognize the value in owning and developing them.

Cisco may have already spotted Tazz's potential, but it may not be the startup's only potential suitor. With Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) sporting its own in-house policy manager, the SDX-300 (a Unisphere product), and {dirlink 2|9} teaming up with Bridgewater Systems Corp., another of the few early movers in the policy management sector, acquiring Tazz would give any major broadband systems vendor a swift entry into the market.

The good news here is that the price for any suitor might not be excessively high. Tazz, which recently raised another $6 million, is backed to the tune of $24 million, a handy but not absurd amount of capital, and has a new, but experienced, CEO at the helm to boot (see Tazz Pockets Another $6M).