"Inserting and deleting objects takes up to 20 times longer when the database server isn't on the same machine as the database client.
Especially object graphs, where the top level object provides a lot of child objects, are more than lame."
It's reported in the forum:
http://developer.db4o.com/forums/thread/40705.aspx
Db4o.Configure().ClientServer().BatchMessages(true);