Outside of IBM/Lotus options, there are two main vendors who sell basic web servers for the AS/400, ADVANCED BusinessLink and I/NET. choosing between the two depends on your skills and the kind of look and feel you want from your Web development environment.

ADVANCED BusinessLink's Strategi product gives users a familiar AS/400 interface and feature set. It contains four basic components in one server; an HTTP server, a Java applet that does emulation, file transfer, and a Web application server. It's strength is that its learning curve for AS/400 users isn't too great.

"Strategi makes the AS/400 a player in an arena with tools administrators are already familiar with; it's very much an AS/400 product," says end user and installer Tom Nicols, president, Information System Services.

A major difference between Strategi and other Web servers is the HTTP server found in Strategi. "This is the only HTTP server written from the ground up for the AS/400," comments Scott McBurney, product manager, Strategi.