Hello Simon,
Happy new year! 
I’m terribly sorry that I haven’t replied to you yet. I got many urgent issues to attend to and was unable to get back at this, and actually couldn’t try your suggestions.
Also, the POC is now on-hold and I can’t spare time with it anymore. I hope that I can get back at this sometime. I will definitely let you know on this thread if I do.
I also hope that all the info and tips shared here are helpful to other people that may run into the same type of issues. I believe all your effort was very important anyway.
Thank you very much.