You wrote:
The server  (Operating System - Windows 2000 Advanced Server) *will* have
mySQL
database install and running and together

If your DB is not running, your software cannot connect  to it.

Also:
String url = "jdbc:mysql:/localhost:3306/qti?username=&password=";

The "localhost" of the client's computer will be their own computer, not the
IP address of your database server.