A distributed software defined network, SDN, packet core system comprising: a plurality of interconnected local SDN infrastructure instances, each local SDN infrastructure instance including a cluster of computing devices arranged geographically in proximity to a respective plurality of radio access points, and communicatively coupled, to a respective plurality of radio access points, wherein each local SDN infrastructure instance is configured to execute latency sensitive network functions, and includes: a plurality of SDN network function modules representing instances of network functions executable by one or more of the computer devices; a stateless load balancer configured to receive data packets from the radio access points for processing by at least one of the network functions and direct the data packets to one of the computing devices in the local SDN infrastructure instance; a plurality of stateful load balancing modules, each stateful load balancing module residing in a respective computing device and configured to: determine a stateful data packet processing task to be applied to a data packet received at the respective computing device; determine a computing device in the local SDN infrastructure instance for applying the determined stateful data packet processing task to the data packet; and forward the data packet to the determined computing device; and a load manager configured to provide information indicative of load and operational states of the computing devices and the plurality of SDN network function modules in the local SDN infrastructure instance to a cloud-based centralized load balancer of the distributed SDN packet core system, wherein the cloud-based centralized load balancer is configured to: receive a network processing request from an access network element; and assign the network processing request to a local SDN infrastructure instance of the plurality of interconnected local SDN infrastructure instances based on load and operational states of the local SDN infrastructure instances based on a latency metric or a capacity metric. a plurality of interconnected local SDN infrastructure instances, each local SDN infrastructure instance including a cluster of computing devices arranged geographically in proximity to a respective plurality of radio access points, and communicatively coupled, to a respective plurality of radio access points, wherein each local SDN infrastructure instance is configured to execute latency sensitive network functions, and includes: a plurality of SDN network function modules representing instances of network functions executable by one or more of the computer devices; a stateless load balancer configured to receive data packets from the radio access points for processing by at least one of the network functions and direct the data packets to one of the computing devices in the local SDN infrastructure instance; a plurality of stateful load balancing modules, each stateful load balancing module residing in a respective computing device and configured to: determine a stateful data packet processing task to be applied to a data packet received at the respective computing device; determine a computing device in the local SDN infrastructure instance for applying the determined stateful data packet processing task to the data packet; and forward the data packet to the determined computing device; and a plurality of SDN network function modules representing instances of network functions executable by one or more of the computer devices; a stateless load balancer configured to receive data packets from the radio access points for processing by at least one of the network functions and direct the data packets to one of the computing devices in the local SDN infrastructure instance; a plurality of stateful load balancing modules, each stateful load balancing module residing in a respective computing device and configured to: determine a stateful data packet processing task to be applied to a data packet received at the respective computing device; determine a computing device in the local SDN infrastructure instance for applying the determined stateful data packet processing task to the data packet; and forward the data packet to the determined computing device; and determine a stateful data packet processing task to be applied to a data packet received at the respective computing device; determine a computing device in the local SDN infrastructure instance for applying the determined stateful data packet processing task to the data packet; and forward the data packet to the determined computing device; and a load manager configured to provide information indicative of load and operational states of the computing devices and the plurality of SDN network function modules in the local SDN infrastructure instance to a cloud-based centralized load balancer of the distributed SDN packet core system, wherein the cloud-based centralized load balancer is configured to: receive a network processing request from an access network element; and assign the network processing request to a local SDN infrastructure instance of the plurality of interconnected local SDN infrastructure instances based on load and operational states of the local SDN infrastructure instances based on a latency metric or a capacity metric. receive a network processing request from an access network element; and assign the network processing request to a local SDN infrastructure instance of the plurality of interconnected local SDN infrastructure instances based on load and operational states of the local SDN infrastructure instances based on a latency metric or a capacity metric.