Architecture and Design help for a project involving TIFF Images

Question

Hello All, I have requirement analysis for a upcoming project (Desktop Application )involving handling of TIFF images extensively. To summarize, there will be around 50 nodes ( LAN ) doing some sort of data entry by view a batch of TIFFs allotted to each user/node. These batch of tiffs may be shared by 1-5 users ie a user may have one batch or one batch may be shared by (upto) 5 users. Now my immediate concerns are : 1. This is basic and most important. Handling of images : Images will be ftp from client site to the location and centrally stored on a server. They will be made into batches on the server for allotment. Now what should be the design and architecture to fetch images from the server to nodes ( LAN ) so that performance is maximum. No network choking. Average size of tiff will be 300 KB and in extreme cases may go upto MBs ( 1-8 MB very rare but yes). I will be using Oracle 9i for data storage but would not like to store images in Oracle so the option is out. 2. I need a .NET compatible image viewer. It should be least expensive with usual feature like >>,<<,zoom,conversion from jpg to Tif and OCR capability will be added advantage. I am looking forward to your inputs. Thanks.