Is SQL Server installed on the same server as Sage Server, or on a different server?  That connection needs to be seamless / high speed / low latency.

Hello,

Both servers SAGE and SQL server are on the same VMWare host on a 10Gb link. The host has 16cores and 256GB of ram, SQL has 4 cores and 64GB of ram, SAGE server is 4 cores and 16GB of ram. Both virtual machines are on a SAN in the SSD pool. Anything else that accesses that SQL server is lightning fast. 

Do you have the same delay when opening screens directly on the Sage server (not on a workstation)?

Yup, same either way

The only idea that pop into my mind are Anti-virus exceptions (there is a Sage KB for that).

If the issue was restricted to workstations I'd suspect a DNS issue (with the servername/instance shown in the Sage SQL settings utility), but a machine should not need to resolve it's own name.

You might want to open a case with Sage.  A 30 second delay opening a screen is not normal.

I have a case open with Sage and they asked me to open a thread here. They seem to be stumped as well. Oh yeah and we only have microsoft windows defender with the scanning omitting the sage folders. 

30 second delay of a screen opening is typically a firewall issue. Check to see if you have the local software firewall on. If you can turn it off and test see if you get a speed difference. 

Hello T-Man, we tried to disable firewall on one machine that had it on but the other 2 machines had it off and they all have the slowness issue. 

Have you looked up (Sage KB) and ensured the Anti-virus exclusions are in place (for the server and any workstation with a mapped drive to the Sage share)?