msODBC connect from SuSe Linux 11 always gives timeout

Hello All,
I am running MSSQL SERVER 2008 R2 on a virtual windows 7. I am trying to connect to that server with a simple python program with pyodbc from a virtual SuSe Linux 11 with "the Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server on Linux" http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh568451.aspx
Python programm:
import pyodbc
connectionstring = "DRIVER={ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server};SERVER=10.72.148.25;UID=MYUID;PWD=MYPWD;PORT=49172;TIMEOUT=1;DATABASE=FTS_ALARM"
connection = pyodbc.connect(connectionstring)
However, no matter what connection string I use, I always get a connection timeout message after about 6 minutes as:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./odbc_just_connect.py", line 18, in <module>
    connection = pyodbc.connect(connectionstring)pyodbc.OperationalError: ('HYT00' ...