Using Asterisk as Autodailaer with .Net

Hello everyone and thanks for your help in advance. I am new to Asterisk and am trying to determine if it is a compatible use for what I am trying to accomplish. I have developed a patient scheduling system for physicians using Windows Server, SQL Server, and .Net. I want to develop an add-on that loops through the schedule database and calls each patient with an appointment reminder. I am considering using Microsoft text-to-speech to create the outgoing message, but need to implement the telephony portion of the application. Since I really don’t have a background in Asterisk, I’m trying to determine if it is even a good match for what I am trying to accomplish and if the fact my application runs on Windows prevents effective interface with Asterisk/Linux. Would someone be able to shed some light on this topic. Any help would be appreciated.

The project is totally feasible, You can connect to the Asterisk seer using AMI and originate the call using the Originate Action. You can use AsterNET is an open source .NET framework for Asterisk AMI and FastAGI. AsterNET allows you to talk to Asterisk AMI from any .NET application and create FastAGI applications in any .NET language. http://www.xdev.net/projects/asternet/

Thank you for the response. So if I understand correctly, I need to set up a separate box running Linux and Asterisk, then connect it to my network. Then, on a separate box, perhaps my Windows server, I install AsterNet or something similar to program the actual connection the the Asterisk server and to control the outbound phone calls and messaging. Am I getting the overview correct?

Thanks again.

You install AsteriskNet on the machine that is running your .NET application.

Thanks again for the response. Another newbie question. Can Asterisk be used to send text messages, or am I better off using something like Twilio?

Sorry, one other newbie question. Assuming I use Asterisk and AsteriskNet for my appointment confirmation program, will I have the ability to respond to caller input, for example “press 1 to confirm, press 2 to cancel”?

Thanks again.

Yes you will be able to respond to the caller input, but
beside using the Originate action, I suggest also the using of Local Channels. then from the Asterisk dialplan you can fire user input and other useful channel’s variables to your .Net application, you can do this using the postback url method

Thank you for everyone’s help.