Python for use corporate ecommerce site?

[stibbs]

Hi, I'm a developer/sys admin for a small company who is currently about
to develop a new e-commerce system. before i go into my question let me
state why i need this information directly from the python community:

1) I'm a member of a development team who has always used apache,
mod_perl, and sometimes mason (perl related).They do know some other
languages (java and c++) and would learn python quick if told to do so
(some already have tinkered with it thanks to me) by our project manager.

2) The project manager and myself are friends, he knows i use python for
my sys admining and is open to suggestions. To put his trust in python he
needs some facts within the next couple of days to actually consider using
it for this project. I already have him interested because of python being
OOP from the ground plus i explained to him the reasons on why it would be
so much easier to maintain and build on compared to perl.

3) I have only used python for sys admin programming but i would have no
problem programming in python for large scale e-commerce system, it's just
that i don't know how or where to *apply* it and what other languages (if
any) to use alongside python. I have no experience in applying python to
an e-commerce related project. ***I need the advice of people that have
applied python in this manner or know in-depth knowledge of how it should
be applied to an e-commerce system.***

here are some of the things the eccomerce system must do or have:

have the ability to interact with oracle8i/9i, db2, postgresql.

interaction with ups and fedex

online store capabilities similar to amazon.com

complete control of updating store items/advertisements-specials for the
company running the system.

simple accounting functionality for the company running the system

ssl/various crypto support

and the main thing the project manager and also the other developers and
myself are concerned about is that it must be as fast (in all areas) as if
the system were done using mod_perl. The other developers and myself
realize that with speed a major factor is the code itself, lets put
that aside and just assume for this post that our developers are capable
of programming in python "the right way" (although any links to the most
efficient way to apply python are welcome).

my questions are:

would we use python/mod_python by itself or use them in conjunction with
c++?

is there anything in the python world that is equal to the likes in
functionality and stability as mason?

what are some useful urls pertaining to a project such as this one.

please give me any other suggestions you may have. ***I would especially
appreciate unbiased advice from people who use multiple programming
languages and who follow the motto that the right tool/s should be used
for the job, not just one tool for everything***

thank you.