Optimization mechanisms for latency reduction and elasticity improvement in geographically distributed data centers

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method for reallocating loading from a datacenter site to other datacenter sites in a cloud computing network using an objective function that defines a performance characteristic of the cloud computing network at each datacenter site and a derivative of the objective function, the method comprising: evaluating the derivative for each of a set of other datacenter sites; identifying based upon the evaluated derivatives a datacenter site in the set of datacenter sites that results in the smallest increase in the objective function; and reallocating loading among the datacenter site and the other datacenter sites based upon the evaluated derivatives and the identified other datacenter site.