A method for forming an optimized communication connection providing enhanced performance of at least one application utilizing the communication connection is provided, the communication connection including a plurality of individual communication networks. The method includes the steps of: obtaining a set of performance requirements corresponding to the application utilizing the communication connection; obtaining real-time capacity information for each of a plurality of available channels associated with the respective individual communication networks; applying at least one policy-based management criteria to the available channels for controlling, in real-time, one or more aspects of the available channels; dynamically aggregating the individual communication networks to form the optimized communication connection, the communication connection leveraging one or more features and capabilities of at least a subset of the communication networks; and controlling real-time traffic scheduling across at least a subset of the available channels so as to adapt the communication connection to changes in network conditions and/or policy-based management criteria.