Abstract: A method of provisioning a computer application in a cloud environment having hardware. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: providing the computer application; defining the processing requirements of the computer application; defining the storage requirements of the computer application; defining the network requirements of the computer application; defining the policies for the computer application; defining a Container comprising the computer application, the processing requirements of the computer application, the storage requirements of the computer application, the network requirements of the computer application; and selecting cloud hardware in response to the components of the Container.