A method for offloading services of a server application in a network system, the method comprising: receiving, by a first in-network computation offload instance, a first request packet from a client application, wherein the first request packet includes a first application payload for processing by the server application; generating, by the first in-network computation offload instance, a modified request packet that includes the first application payload and first offload information that describes the first in-network computation offload instance for use by the server application in coordinating offloading processing to one or more in-network computation offload instances; transmitting, by the first in-network computation offload instance, the modified request packet to the next device in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application, wherein the next device is either a second in-network computation offload instance in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application or the server application; receiving, by the first in-network computation offload instance, a modified reply packet that was generated by the server application; determining, by the first in-network computation offload instance, that the modified reply packet includes a second application payload and second offload information that is addressed to the first in-network computation offload instance; storing, by the first in-network computation offload instance, first data from the second offload information associated with processing application payloads of request packets by the first in-network computation offload instance on behalf of the server application; and transmitting, by the first in-network computation offload instance, either the modified reply packet to a third in-network computation offload instance in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application, a first reply packet that includes the second application payload to the third in-network computation offload instance, or the first reply packet to the client application. receiving, by a first in-network computation offload instance, a first request packet from a client application, wherein the first request packet includes a first application payload for processing by the server application; generating, by the first in-network computation offload instance, a modified request packet that includes the first application payload and first offload information that describes the first in-network computation offload instance for use by the server application in coordinating offloading processing to one or more in-network computation offload instances; transmitting, by the first in-network computation offload instance, the modified request packet to the next device in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application, wherein the next device is either a second in-network computation offload instance in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application or the server application; receiving, by the first in-network computation offload instance, a modified reply packet that was generated by the server application; determining, by the first in-network computation offload instance, that the modified reply packet includes a second application payload and second offload information that is addressed to the first in-network computation offload instance; storing, by the first in-network computation offload instance, first data from the second offload information associated with processing application payloads of request packets by the first in-network computation offload instance on behalf of the server application; and transmitting, by the first in-network computation offload instance, either the modified reply packet to a third in-network computation offload instance in the traffic flow between the client application and the server application, a first reply packet that includes the second application payload to the third in-network computation offload instance, or the first reply packet to the client application.