An apparatus comprising an application cross-stratum optimization (CSO) gateway (ACG) coupled to an application layer that handles a plurality of servers, a network CSO gateway (NCG) coupled to a network layer that handles a plurality of network nodes and configured to communicate with the ACG using a CSO protocol (CSOP), and a CSO interface established between the ACG and the NCG that enables the exchange of a plurality of CSOP messages to allow joint application-network resource allocation, provisioning, and optimization. Also disclosed is a network apparatus implemented method comprising sending a user profile from a user plane to an application plane, sending an application profile from the application plane to a network plane via a CSO interface between an ACG and a NCG, and sending network capability information from the network plane to the application plane via the CSO interface.