New to SQL Server.... (Still)

I have a customer table with thousands of records in it. The Primary key is the Customer ID and is a 7-digit number. The table is ordered by the Customer ID. This table is a copy of a database that is on our mainframe, and it resides on the SQL Server.

Our plan is to allow users using Access to have a link to this table, instead of going through the Enteprise Mgr.

All is going well, but I would like to set up a combobox on an Access form that will allow the user to select a specific customer record. I would like the user to be able to type in the customer name and have the combo box find the record in the index.

This works, but is very slow. I am looking for suggestion on how to speed the process up. To me, the key seems to be in rather or not I can change the native sequence of the table, or some how use an index to return a sorted record set. Keep in mind that I am new to SQL Server... Am I missing the obvious?

Thanks!

Is there not a manage indexes option when you right click on the table in enterprise manager, presumably if you add an index on the customer field you will speed up the process

Thanks Bigley...

I think I found my problems. One, I wasn't creating the index properly. Secondly, I beleive there is a limit to the number of records that can be contained in a ComboBox. I think I need to look at other alternatives.