We have the same setup at our place. FTP communication isn't a "clusterfuck", it is the tried and tested communication method between any two large companies that aren't banks. To us, it is the only highly available and reliable one. Web services have downtimes and re-sends. Our partners practically never turn off their FTP machines.
The only difference at our place is that we assume FTP works and do our tests on the file system. We don't test whether FTP works. We know it does.
The only difference at our place is that we assume FTP works and do our tests on the file system. We don't test whether FTP works. We know it does.