Hi Scott!
I have the same problem like You or Your IT-Dept.......working with Adobe Premiere Pro over a central storage
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1166877
I will give a try to some tests in the upcoming weeks with some constellations of Hard- & Software.
As I`ve read, You are working on a HP Z400 machine so did You ever try RGS (RemoteGraphicSoftware) from HP itself?
http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/workstations/remote-graphics -software.html
If You are working with RGS the HP Z400 is attached directly to the storage and with a thin client You are connecting to the Z400, this is somethin like a performant remote desktop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RMuXqRemc
Adobe is working on a solution like RGS and it`s called "Adobe Anywhere" but it`s just known that Adobe will release this in 2013 but no-one knows the releasedate.