CLI performance thru firewall

Hi - We are running Informix OnLine DS 7.20.TE1 on an NT 4.0 Server. When trying to make a connection with Informix CLI it takes about 15-20 seconds to make the initial connection. After that performance is acceptable, but since we are connecting with a web app we generally aren't doing much after the initial query. The server is outside our firewall and we are trying to connect from inside the firewall. Connecting to identical servers inside the firewall only takes a second or two. Connecting to the machine that is outside the firewall with FTP or HTTP is immediate. Does anyone have advice on what we should look for? We have tried connecting with the IP address in the connection string instead of a hostname (thinking it might be hung up trying to resolve the name), but that had no effect on the connection time. Thanks for any help. Dick Counsell WRQ, Inc.