Network applications may be defined as software applications used in networks that require or substantially benefit from the presence of networked computers. Networks essentially are created in order to connect users and facilitate the performance of tasks. Networks therefore exist for applications. Without applications software, users can do little on a network. Network application software allows users to tap the power of networks in increasingly creative ways.

Networked applications came into being with the advent of the client-server model in the 1980s and 1990s, when LANS (Local-Area Networks) and WANs (Wide-Area Networks) proliferated, and corporations increasingly began to rely on centralized computer programs for all business functions. This meant that robust data-handling applications were placed on central network servers, rather than on desktop workstations. Networked users then used thin-client interfaces at their desktops to connect with network applications and perform business tasks such as accounting, querying...