Dynamic core sharding in a cloud-based 5G network

A method for routing on a data and telephone network, the method comprising:

• receiving a request from a first user equipment (UE) at a first edge data center of a first cloud network to access a core service of the data and telephone network;
• selecting a core shard from a plurality of potential core shards to perform the core service, wherein the core shard comprises a first instance at a first core data center outside of the first cloud network;
• provisioning the first instance at the first core data center in response to selecting the core shard;
• and
• routing the request from the first UE to an edge service over a first communication channel;
• and
• routing the request from the edge service to the first instance over a second communication channel.

A cloud-based data and telephone network comprising a processor in communication with a non-transitory memory configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the cloud-based data and telephone network to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• receiving a communication from a first user equipment (UE) at a first edge data center of a first cloud network, wherein the communication is directed to a second UE;
• selecting a potential core shard to route the communication from a plurality of potential core shards, wherein the potential core shard comprises a first instance at a first data center of a second cloud network and a second instance at a second data center of the second cloud network, wherein a core communication channel connects the first data center to the second data center;
• provisioning the first instance at the first data center and the second instance at the second data center in response to selecting the potential core shard;
• routing the communication from an edge service to the first instance over a first communication channel;
• routing the communication from the first instance to the second instance over the core communication channel;
• and
• routing the communication from the second instance to the second UE over a third communication channel.