For years, the face of telepresence has been scripted by the likes Cisco and Polycom (News - Alert), two pioneers of the technology that have the scale and resources necessary to deploy extravagant video conferencing systems at Fortune 1000 companies that can afford them.

However, recent technological advances – and user frustration over the lack of mobility in traditional solutions – has leveled the playing field to a certain degree, letting smaller players gain market share in the telepresence space.

But this is just the beginning, according to FuzeBox CEO Jeff Cavins, who believes Cisco (News - Alert) and Polycom are being "outmaneuvered" by younger, more flexible startups that are poised to disrupt the telepresence market as we know it.

In a recent op-ed piece for Forbes, Cavins lays out a number of reasons why established telepresence providers like Cisco and Polycom are in trouble. As the leader of a company that delivers online conferencing and telepresence services, Cavins' words should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, but he still makes a handful of interesting points.

The most obvious disadvantage of traditional telepresence solutions is cost. Top-end solutions often require a six-figure upfront investment at each facility as well as the need to dedicate an entire conference room to a singular purpose.  

"A similar quality setup using the latest video codecs now costs one-tenth of the price, while maintaining the look and feel of being in the same place as other meeting attendees," Cavins writes.

Another reason for the presumed emergence of smaller telepresence providers is mobility. The influx of tablets and lightweight ultrabooks enables providers to deliver HD video conferencing to the mobile masses, rather than just the rich and stationary. The evolution of next-generation networks has provided yet another boost to newcomers in the telepresence game, who don't need to build dedicated infrastructures to support HD conferencing.

The other advantage for less established players is the emergence of collaboration technologies like real-time sharing, annotation and content viewing apps, which are difficult to incorporate and utilize with traditional telepresence systems.

"New mobile apps and services are making productivity during meetings more about doing actual work than face time – true digital working meetings," Cavins wrote.

And the final advantage? The cloud. No longer do companies need to rely on IT teams to control and manage their software. Cutting-edge hosted technologies allow a service provider to manage telepresence remotely, opening up video conferencing to enterprises and SMBs that don't have the resources or know-how to operate a stand-alone solution.