Patent ID: 8763088

Claim:
A first computer system, residing on a first computer network of a plurality of computer networks, for controlling access to the plurality of computer networks, the first computer system configured to: receive a first credential from a network access controller on the first computer network, the first credential being associated with a first connecting device requesting access to the plurality of computer networks at the network access controller; select, using a criterion, at least one authentication routing policy from a plurality of authentication routing policies, each authentication routing policy of the plurality of authentication routing policies comprising: address information associated with at least two authentication databases against which the first credential associated with the first connecting device may be authenticated, wherein at least one of the at least two authentication databases is contained on a second computer system residing on a second computer network: select a first authentication database of the at least two authentication databases of the selected at least one authentication routing policy against which the first credential is to be authenticated; communicate the first credential to the first authentication database using the address information; receive an authentication response from the first authentication database; and communicate the authentication response to the network access controller.