Client server applications

Hello...
I am new to this forum and also new to as/400 machines..
At our company , we have been using as/400 for the past 10 years and have
recently migrated to v4r5 on an  an e-server..But we are still continuing
to run old cobol sources even for interative programs. We dont even use
client access.

I have worked on developer forms of ORACLE and want to do the same thing on
as/400 side.

Can we have an architecture with DB/400 on e-server as the database engine
and something like oracle forms running on an intel machine ... users can
log on to the intel server via their PCs.
This entire thing is required for scheduling  and production recording of
steel making.
The architecture should be able to communicate with other servers ( mostly
VAX) which capture automated data from PLCs etc.

whats the oracle form equivalent for DB2.
Will VB or java be better ??
what should I go for?
I keep hearing about websphere. what is it?
Is there some other software which I can get ?
Am I heading in the right direction.

santosh.

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e- mail at :  santoshp@lot.tatasteel.com
ITS, Tata Steel.
Jamshedpur, India.
Tel : 842134 (O) , 200279 (R).