Timeout

We use a centralized IDS 7.30.TC2 server to keep information on our customers. When a customer enters a remote site, which have IWS 7.30.TC3 servers, the data is retrieved from the central site if it is newer than the data on the local server. Because some of our sites are in remote locations, the network is not as stable as we would like. I am currently using a procedure to retrieve the information from the central server and storing it to the remote server. When the network is down, it take better that 45 seconds to time out. Is there a way to reduce the time out. If the network is up 10 sec. or less should be enough. All of the servers are Windows NT 4.0 with SP3. Thanks for any help. Shannon