But saying "user" or "client" overgeneralizes; in reality, the interaction takes place through a personal computer, an Internet Protocol (IP) phone, or similar network device.
Businesses, campuses, governments and all other social entities across-the-board in need of security may resort to the use of IEEE 802.1X authentication to regulate users access to their corresponding network infrastructure.
And to enable this, client devices need to meet supplicant definition in order to gain access.
For a supplicant-capable device to gain access to the secured resources on a network, some preconditions should be observed and a context that will make this feasible.
[5] This is the most important single step a user will need to make in order for one's network device to act as a supplicant.