In a preferred embodiment, the invention comprises an authentication engine, an authentication host, {HEAD ~ a plurality} of {TAIL ~ providers} coupled to the host which implement selected authentication schemes, and a machine independent communication mechanism which enables the various components to communicate with each other irregardless of the machine each component resides on 
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In a preferred embodiment , the invention comprises an authentication engine , an authentication host , { HEAD ~ a plurality } of { TAIL ~ providers } coupled to the host which implement selected authentication schemes , and a machine independent communication mechanism which enables the various components to communicate with each other irregardless of the machine each component resides on
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