The following is required in order to be able to access Blanchard Exchange and the content provided by the platform.
Note: While the primary requirements are listed below, some products/software services delivered through Blanchard Exchange have requirements in addition to the general requirements.
If you are using one or more of the following in your design(s), please select the name(s) on the list below to jump to the additional requirements towards the bottom of this article:
For organizations using VPN tunnels: If your organization does not allow for split-tunneling (i.e. full tunnel with no exceptions), it is highly recommended to allow this exception or have your users disable their VPN client. Full tunneling can cause latency issues with bandwidth-sensitive content & applications, such as streaming video, or virtual classroom platforms such as Adobe Connect.
System Configuration
Web Browser: Supported web browsers include Microsoft Edge (Latest), Google Chrome (latest), Mozilla Firefox (latest), or Safari 5.0+.
For viewing on an iPad: Safari (iOS 5 or higher)
Additionally, the following must be allowed through the preferred browser(s):
- Cookies must be enabled
- JavaScript must be enabled
Broadband Connection: 500 kbps (recommended) of available bandwidth - required for streaming media delivered through Blanchard Exchange.
Adobe Reader/Acrobat: Blanchard Exchange serves up PDF content. Users must have Acrobat/Reader 9+ installed (or similar compatible PDF viewer). PDF files are version 1.7.
***A note regarding the security of Blanchard Exchange***
Encrypted Communication via HTTPS: All web-based communication to and from Blanchard Exchange is encrypted using TLS 1.2.
Password Encryption: Users of Blanchard Exchange are asked to set their own passwords. As these passwords are saved to the database, they are encrypted.
Email Requirements
Each user must have a unique email address.
Emails from Blanchard Exchange will be sent from Blanchard Exchange (noreply@blanchardexchange.com).
Multi-rater assessment invitations will be sent from Blanchard Online (noreply@assessments.kenblanchard.com).
Note: We also recommend that you allow all email from @blanchard.com and any subdomains.
Digital credentials issued through Credly by Pearson are sent from Blanchard via Credly (admin@credly.com).
Blanchard Exchange uses Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) for email delivery. To ensure a high level of successful email deliveries, Blanchard Exchange, together with SES, uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF). SPF is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by verifying sender IP addresses.
If it is critical to know the current IP addresses being utilized (which can change occasionally), please review this article from Amazon with instructions.
Firewall Requirements
Ports required for all domains: 80 & 443
To ensure end-users are not blocked from accessing Blanchard Exchange and the accompanying content, please add the following domains and hostnames to your company safelist (IP addresses are not included due to the addresses being dynamic):
- https://www.blanchardexchange.com (primary portal/interface)
- https://assessments.kenblanchard.com (integrated assessment platform)
- https://dkqgk8jq4t1u0.cloudfront.net (CDN for images - will generate a 403 error if attempting to access directly)
- https://d3fv9e7p6vofdm.cloudfront.net (CDN for script libraries- will generate a 403 error if attempting to access directly)
- https://www.credly.com (digital credentials)
- Brightcove domains (see below under Video Streaming)
Blanchard Exchange serves up video content through streaming media provider Brightcove. A sample video can be found here.
The following domains must be accessible through your firewall:
- *.brightcove.com (Brightcove web sites)
- *.brightcove.net (Brightcove players)
- bcove.video (social sharing, shortened video URLs)
- *.api.brightcove.com (Brightcove APIs for Studio and players)
- *.o.brightcove.com (source for some streaming media)
- players.brightcove.net (source for Brightcove players)
- hls.ak.o.brightcove.com (source for some HLS video)
- *.boltdns.net (dynamic delivery)
- *.llnw.net (source for video renditions and assets)
- *.llnwd.net (source for video renditions and assets)
- *.akafms.net (source for video renditions and assets)
- *.akamaihd.net (source for video renditions and assets)
- *.analytics.edgekey.net (source for analytics data)
- *.media.brightcove.com (delivery of media assets)
- hlstoken-a.akamaihd.net (tokenAuth support for HLS, HLSe, and DASH)
- *.brightcovecdn.com (Fastly CDN for dynamic delivery)
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If wildcarding is not possible, please visit this page for a full list of domains. |