Patent ID: 8695079

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of: receiving a request in at least one computing device to allocate a security token, the security token being shared among a plurality of devices and operating to separate a plurality of virtual networks in a multi-tenant networked environment, wherein each of the plurality of virtual networks operates as a separate security context in the multi-tenant networked environment; in response to the request to allocate, determining, via the at least one computing device, whether a never-before-allocated security token is available; when the never-before-allocated security token is available, allocating, via the at least one computing device, the never-before-allocated security token; when the never-before-allocated security token is unavailable, removing, via the at least one computing device, a least recently deallocated security token from a pool of available security tokens, thereby allocating the least recently deallocated security token; providing, via the at least one computing device, the allocated token to at least one of the plurality of devices; receiving, via the at least one computing device, a request to deallocate another security token; in response to the request to deallocate, adding, via the at least one computing device, the another security token to the pool of available security tokens; and making the plurality of devices available through a service gateway.