1. A method for processing requests to a given application executable in a distributed computing environment, wherein a set of edge servers are deployed in the distributed computing environment to offload processing from one or more origin servers, and wherein the given application has at least a first component and a second component, comprising: responsive to receipt of a request at a given edge server, determining whether the request is a first request for the given application; if the request is the first request for the given application, and prior to returning a response to the request, retrieving the first component to the edge server; upon installation of the first component at the edge server, or if the request is not the first request for the given application, executing the first component unless such execution over-utilizes a given resource on the edge server to the exclusion of a component of a second application also executing on the given edge server, wherein the first component and the component of the second application may execute on the edge server concurrently otherwise; communicating with the origin server on an as needed basis to execute the second component; and generating a response to the request based on results of executing the first component and, as needed, the second component.