I am SQL Server database admin, and I have experience of 5 years. My everyday work consists of performance tuning, and avoiding locks. I work with TB SQL Server databases, and I solve lock issues without problem. If this is archiving software the core reason for locks is because it tries to read and delete live data while users are accessing them. There are many ways to solve that problem, but I need more data to give you exact advice.
Please contact me and send me some more data about this software. The best way is to change archiving to night hours if possible, or to archive smaller parts of data. I repeat, please send me some more data.
I will be very glad to help you.
Best regards,
Ivan