Patent ID: 7703126

Claim:
A method comprising: initiating a network access request from an access requester on a platform that couples to a network, the network access request made to a policy decision point for the network; establishing a secure communication channel over a communication link between the policy decision point and a policy enforcement point on the platform; establishing a secure communication channel over an other communication link, the other communication link between at least the policy enforcement point and a manageability engine resident on the platform, the manageability engine to forward posture information associated with the access requester and the manageability engine, the posture information to be forwarded via the secure communication channel between the manageability engine and the policy enforcement point; and forwarding the posture information to the policy decision point via the secure communication channel between the policy enforcement point and the policy decision point, the policy decision point to indicate what access the access requester can obtain to the network based on a comparison of the posture information to one or more network administrative policies.