US Patent 9461980 Predictive prefetching of attribute information

In one example, a method includes predicting, by a network access control (NAC) device based on a device identifier in a request from a client device and a device usage history of the client device, a user associated with the client device, prior to completing a user authentication process, requesting, by the NAC device and from a directory server, session attributes for the predicted user, receiving, by the NAC device and from an authentication server, an indication of whether a user associated with the client device was successfully authenticated. The method includes determining, based on an identifier of the user, whether the predicted user is the user associated with the client device, and responsive to determining that the predicted user is the user associated with the client device, establishing, by the NAC and using the session attributes for the predicted user, a session between the client device and the network.