The eSDO project is a UK e-Science project funded by PPARC to develop solar algorithms, visualization tools and designs for a UK data centre that can be accessed through the UK virtual observatory in preparation for the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) mission in 2008. Algorithms available for use by the solar community include helioseismology applications, coronal feature recognition, and wave power analysis. Visualization tools will allow users to vary time ranges, cadence and resolution and they view streams of images data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments. Finally, a prototype UK data centre will demonstrate efficient UK user access to SDO data through both AstroGrid searches and integration with the global SDO data archive.