A method for deployment by a wide area service provider of one or more virtual machines via a wide area network , comprising: deploying a combined networking and computing device that supports virtual machine resources at a service location with a provisioned network path in the wide area network to a public cloud facility ; downloading a virtual machine from a library to the networking and computing device over a temporary network path which is reconfigured from the provisioned network path in the wide area network to connect the networking and computing device to the library that is located in a different location from the public cloud facility in the provisioned network path ; activating the virtual machine by a service in the wide area network ; and returning the combined networking and computing device to its normal configuration with the provisioned network path over the wide area network to connect back to the public cloud facility while removing the temporary network path , wherein each of the provisioned network path and the temporary network path connect to the combined networking and computing device via a Layer 2 switch , wherein the combined networking and computing device includes the virtual machine in the virtual machine resource which operates on a hypervisor within the device , and wherein the combined networking and computing device is a smart network interface device that includes the virtual machine resources , the hypervisor , memory , and a central processing unit , and further comprising configuring network bandwidth to provide the temporary path for distribution of the virtual machine , and wherein the temporary path is a higher speed connection than the provisioned network path . deploying a combined networking and computing device that supports virtual machine resources at a service location with a provisioned network path in the wide area network to a public cloud facility ; downloading a virtual machine from a library to the networking and computing device over a temporary network path which is reconfigured from the provisioned network path in the wide area network to connect the networking and computing device to the library that is located in a different location from the public cloud facility in the provisioned network path ; activating the virtual machine by a service in the wide area network ; and returning the combined networking and computing device to its normal configuration with the provisioned network path over the wide area network to connect back to the public cloud facility while removing the temporary network path , wherein each of the provisioned network path and the temporary network path connect to the combined networking and computing device via a Layer 2 switch , wherein the combined networking and computing device includes the virtual machine in the virtual machine resource which operates on a hypervisor within the device , and wherein the combined networking and computing device is a smart network interface device that includes the virtual machine resources , the hypervisor , memory , and a central processing unit , and further comprising configuring network bandwidth to provide the temporary path for distribution of the virtual machine , and wherein the temporary path is a higher speed connection than the provisioned network path . <EOS>