It depends on what environment you are working in. In Windows with the file as a share, you can

open(READ,"\\\\ComputerName\\ShareName\\FileName");
while(<READ>) {
#do stuff
}
close READ;
[download]

Or, if it is a mapped Windows drive:

# M: is a mapped network drive
open(READ,"M:\\folder\filename");
while(<READ>) {
#do stuff
}
close READ;
[download]

Anyways, on UNIX, you could use secure copy:

system("scp user@computer.domain.com:/var/logfile ~/my_logs");
open(READ,"~/my_logs/logfile");
while(<READ>) {
#do stuff
}
close READ;
[download]

If you give me more information (like what platform, what network), I can provide more detail.

Jeremy