1. A system for using a plurality of processing cores for packet processing in a virtualized network environment, the system comprising: a computer-implemented scheduler operable to: initiate a processing core of the plurality of processing cores such that the processing core is operable to process a first plurality of data packets associated with a first virtual machine; receive a first data packet associated with the first virtual machine; determine that the processing core exceeds a first threshold processing capacity associated with the processing core; based on the determining, initiate a subsequent processing core such that the subsequent processing core is operable to process data packets of the first plurality of data packets in excess of the first threshold processing capacity, the subsequent processing core having a first portion of a processing capacity associated with data packet forwarding and a second portion of the processing capacity associated with data packet processing such that a second threshold processing capacity associated with the subsequent processing core is less than the first threshold processing capacity; forward the first data packet to a first queue associated with the subsequent processing core; receive a second data packet associated with the first virtual machine; ascertain that the processing core is below the first threshold processing capacity associated with the processing core; based on the ascertaining, re-initiate the subsequent processing core such that the subsequent processing core is operable to process a second plurality of data packets associated with a second virtual machine; and forward the second data packet to a second queue associated with the processing core.