Case Study: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) scales for a 650% traffic surge and reclaims developer time with Pantheon

OIST Scales Team and Meets Demand Surge with Pantheon & Managed Updates

The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) is an international graduate university charged with world‑class research and regional economic development. Its small Digital Content, Brand, and Design (DCBD) team was overwhelmed by rising demands across multiple Drupal sites—spending excessive time on CMS updates, support tickets, and custom container maintenance instead of front‑end development and user‑facing work.

OIST adopted a cloud‑native WebOps platform with Pantheon’s Managed Updates, Diamond Support (including a dedicated Customer Success Manager), Multidev, and a Global CDN. This combination automated and de‑risked Drupal updates with Visual Regression Testing, off‑loaded routine support, enabled parallel development workflows, and absorbed a 650% traffic spike with no downtime—freeing the team to focus on feature delivery, faster collaboration, and higher‑impact projects.

OIST

Micheal Cooper

Manager, Digital Content, Brand, and Design