Answer
Yes. ArcInfo Workstation can be used to connect to Oracle 9i using the Oracle 816 or 817 client. Install the Oracle 8i client software and establish a SQLPlus connection to the 9i server. After successfully connecting via SQLPlus, start Workstation ArcInfo and use the CONNECT command to connect to Oracle.
This configuration is only for the ArcInfo Workstation DBI (Database Integrator) module. This Oracle 8i client / Oracle 9i server configuration described in this article will not work with ArcStorm.
For further information on connecting to a remote Oracle database server see the Oracle documentation and the ArcInfo Workstation DBI documentation.