The advice given previously is complete enough that I won't address the solution(s) already given.

Just as an aside however - since this isn't what you asked for - it's also possible to connect to the server you loaded the applet from with a socket-based connection. I know this can be made to a servlet on the server side, but I don't see why you coudn't connect to Perl code instead.

That might afford you the most efficient conenction but adds nothing at all to security, compatibility, nor accessibility. It's just possible. To address those concerns you'd be better off providing a web service on the server & consuming it via the applet, as suggested above.