Transferring data between solid state drives (SSDs) via a connection between the SSDs

A first solid state drive (SSD) includes a built-in network interface device configured to communicate via a network fabric, and a second SSD includes a built-in network interface device configured to communicate via the network fabric. A connection is opened between the first SSD and the second SSD over the network fabric, where the first SSD is further communicatively coupled to the second SSD further over an interconnect associated with a host computer. The first SSD encapsulates a non-volatile memory over fabric (NVMe-oF) command to transfer data between the first SSD and the second SSD in a capsule and sends the capsule to the second SSD over the connection. The second SSD executes the NVMe command to transfer the data between the first SSD and the second SSD over the connection according to an NVMe-oF communication protocol and without transferring any of the data to the host computer.