If I were you, I would seriously consider spreading all the files into a structured group of subdirectories. Over all you will notice a huge speed increase by reducing the number of files in each directory, if many of these files are opened frequently.

>That is an interesting idea. I gave it a try, and it seemed to work about the same as the other solutions. Looks like I am just limited to the speed of the network. It should only be a few more years before networks speed up enough that this won't be a problem. I just hope my boss is patient.