Embodiments include technologies for receiving two or more requests to join a network from an end device via two or more gateways, respectively, and selecting one of the two or more gateways for the end device. Embodiments further include sending, to the selected gateway, a response to a request to join the network received via the selected gateway, where the response includes an indication to the selected gateway to forward the request to join the network to an edge network server associated with the selected gateway. In more specific embodiments, an application is identified based on information included in the request to join the network, and a determination is made regarding whether to allocate an edge network server to the end device based, at least in part, on a type of the application. Specific embodiments can include the gateway being selected based, at least in part, on a policy.