Distributed data storage system with peer-to-peer optimization

A method comprising:

• connecting at least one host to a plurality of data storage devices via a network controller, the network controller having a network processor, each of the plurality of data storage devices having a storage processor;
• forming a peer group of at least two of the plurality of data storage devices in response to a detected processing bottleneck associated with the network processor, a selected one of the plurality of data storage devices designated as a primary device and each of the remaining plurality of data storage devices designated as a secondary device;
• offloading a processing task from the network processor to the storage processor of the primary device to alleviate the detected processing bottleneck;
• using the storage processor of the primary device to divide the processing task into multiple subtasks and to offload the multiple subtasks onto the processor of each of the secondary devices for execution thereby, the processor of the primary device coordinating overall execution of the processing task, wherein the peer group and the processing tasks are selected to maintain data transfer performance of the plurality of data storage devices above a selected threshold level.