Providing IP Address in runtime.props for field bpm:appServe

OE 11.5.1

Windows 7 Professional

We have a customer that has a requirement that we use an IP Address and not a Hostname value when configuring a web app's runtime.props file at <tomcat_install_dir>\webapps\<app_name>\WEB-INF\adapters\runtime.props

The issue that we currently have in runtime.props is that when the value for the property <bpm:appServiceHost> is an IP Address and not a host name, the web app fails to find the associated appserver.

For example, in runtime.props for our web app, we have the snippet:

 <bpm:ApplicationRuntimeProperties>
    <bpm:appServiceHost>217.218.98.3</bpm:appServiceHost>
    <bpm:appServiceProtocol>AppServerDC</bpm:appServiceProtocol>
    <bpm:appServicePort>5530</bpm:appServicePort>
    <bpm:appServiceName>asSOA</bpm:appServiceName>

 When I attempt to connect to the specified appserver, the mobile client receives a canned error response ("error returned from the server") and the appserver log shows no new activity (as if the client did not properly communicate with the appserver).

If I change the value for <bpm:appServiceHost> from an IP Address to an actual HostName (in Dev environment) then the calling client successfully connects to the described appserver and receives response data as expected.

Are we not allowed to use an IP Address for this attribute in runtime.props?  Is there another attribute that needs to be set in runtime.props to successfully allow us to use an IP Address for the <bpm:appServiceHost> value?

Thank you!