Suggestions for Preparing for Upgrade to WC from ILink 3.4

The company I am with is currently using a somewhat kluged Intralink 3.4 system for our CAD data management. What I mean by kluged is that it has not been monitored or maintained properly for over 6 years and has been upgraded in this manner from 3.0 to 3.4 in steps over that time. The end result is a mess of policies and controls that leave my head spinning.

We are now looking at moving from Intralink to Windchill (either 9.1 or 10) PDM Link. Knowing that this is a major change and that it will require a database conversion/migration, I see this as the perfect opportunity to "clean up the mess" that has been left from the past. The only problem is that I know almost NOTHING about managing a system like Windchill.

What I do know:
-I need a server
-I need Oracle 11g
-I need LOTS of help
-Did I mention the LOTS of help since I am going to be in WAY over my head soon?

What I do not know:
-What size server? I was thinking of getting something with 12-16 cores worth of CPUs (split between 2 sockets) and a minimum of 64Gig of RAM which I would split into 3 systems with VMWare (app server for Windchill, database server for Oracle, storage server for data). Is this a good method?
-Oracle Standard or Enterprise? We are looking at a "weighted user" (by the PTC method) of only about 25 users (with a projected potential of as many as 50).
-What OS is good for the server? Solaris? RedHat? Server2003/2008?
-What sort of training is appropriate? Do I need a class on Oracle database management? Javascript? Java? RedHat management?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! I have started to try to read the documents on Windchill installation/maintainance/upgrading/CAD integration, but that is about 3000 pages that assume that I already understand some of the basics behind server management.

-Lawrence