In a non-Web environment, an application server performs the business logic (the data processing), although some amount of business logic may be handled by the user's machine. In a private or public ...

Application sharing between a client, middleware and enterprise server Application sharing between a client, application server and enterprise database server.

Database connectivity gives desktop and Web applications much of their value. .NET developers have products and framework objects that can tie a front-end application to SQL Server, MySQL, Sybase, ...