peer 2 peer network, runrmtcmd and MS word

hey all,

i'm really 'networking challenged', but a collegue who is even more so
challenged than I has asked for my advice on a problem, so i thought i'd
run it by the group.

a client has a simple p2p win98 network, rather than NT or Novell.  i am
not at all sure what the connection to the 400 is, but i'm assuming it's
tcp? - like i said, i'm challenged.

they currently have about 4 or 5 batch jobs that prepare a file to merge
with ov/400 documents.  they'd like to replace this using MS word, but
retain the ability to have the 400 initiate the process in batch.

i've searched the archives, and it seems RUNRMTCMD might be the ticket, so
here are my questions:

will this work with a p2p network?
what protocol does a p2p network typically use to connect with the 400?
if tcp, does each pc on the network have a static ip the 400 can access?
would a cheap stand-alone pc running client access and word do the trick?
can you download a physical file (cpytoimpf) to this pc in this scenario?
if so, how?

any advice or just a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

thanks,

rick