Patent ID: 7437755

Claim:
An access control system comprising: a plurality of devices capable of receiving credentials for access requests, the plurality of devices comprising a physical facility device for providing access to a physical facility and a network resource device for providing access to a network resource, the physical facility device configured to receive a first access request with a credential for access to the physical facility and the network resource device configure to receive an access request with a credential for access to the network resource where the physical facility device and network resource device defer validating of the credentials and generate and send access requests including the credentials; and a server configured to receive the access requests including the credentials and having access to a list containing authorized entities, defined by credentials, permitted to access the physical facility and the network resource based upon a certain specified criteria or policy; said server configured to verify credentials submitted by both the physical facility device and the network resource device and issue commands to distribute and implement said policies using the physical facility device and the network resource device, the server configured to be an initial verifier of credentials received in the access requests received from both the physical facility device for accessing the physical facility and the network resource device for accessing the network resource, wherein the physical facility device receives a command from the server regarding credential verification of the credential sent in the access request and enforces access based on the command, the server being the initial verifier of the credential to enforce access at the physical facility device, wherein the network resource device receives a command from the server regarding credential verification of the credential sent in the access request and enforces access based on the command, the server being the initial verifier of the credential to enforce access at the network resource device.