tibor karaszi

Perhaps the connection is made using Named Pipes? I'd use cliconfg.exe on the client to verify that
TCP/IP (sockets) is selected higher than Named Pipes. Sockets shouldn't require anything else but
the TCP port. Unless you are trying a Windows logins, of course. Also, since you specify the port in
your connection string, you shouldn't need the SQL Server browser service on the server (unless it
is needed for other purposes, of course).

--
Tibor Karaszi, SQL Server MVP
http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/default.asp
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/tibor_karaszi