Optimizing NTD application

[sameer]

Hi All,

We had developed a .Net application which has the following environment
Uses the No touch deployment concept
Uses framework 1.1 on client and server machine,
Visual studio 2003,
Sql server 2000,
Deployed on a windows 2003 box.
Reporting is done using Crystal reports 10
A third party component grid from DevExpress has been used on all the forms
in the application.
And the No touch deployment exe uses webservice hosted on the web server
which call the .net dlls for communicating with the database which is hosted
on its own machine.
We use SOAP for validation.
All of my tables have indexes on them.
Application uses customized SOAP headers to communicate with the webservice.

The application is deployed over the internet in CT and the client is using
it in Houston over the internet using a T1 connection. Most of the times it
is ok, but at time the performance of the application, which depends a lot on
the speed of the internet connection is very slow. Very soon we are going
international on this application which mean that there would be clients in
Europe, Asia who would be using our application hosted in CT.

My question is considering this environment the application is developed and
deployed in, can any one suggest ways of optimizing this .net application,
either database wise or .net optimization or configuration. I know there is
already a latest framework out there, 2.0(if I am no wrong), can any one give
me reviews on it and also tell me if in any way it optimize the application
to run any faster.

Thanks
Muzammil