Big news for telepresence and that market’s associated vendors today. Let’s put this in terms of competition: at the heart of recent innovations and partnerships is a standoff between Cisco and Hewlett-Packard. The former had previously supplied the latter with its video-based conferencing products, and their reseller agreement was severed some months ago, when it became apparent that Cisco was investing more in data center and server fields products (considered by many as HP’s stomping ground).

So who’s stepping into Cisco’s shoes at HP? Polycom. HP is looking to the telepresence solutions provider to strengthen their unified communications and collaboration services lines. Polycom also   announced they’re expanding their relationship with Microsoft today, as the two will work together to develop a UC solutions portfolio, marrying Polycom’s video conferencing wares and Microsoft’s myriad servers.

Change has long been afoot in the video conferencing sphere, with the market moving quickly toward commercializing the space. Companies like Cisco—big players in the enterprise conferencing game—are finding ways to offer more economical conferencing solutions, as well as explore other spaces. In addition to making some video conferencing acquisitions, Cisco is branching out into routers and switches.

Polycom is swooping in to make the most of the sea change, and partnering with HP will indeed do a lot for their market presence. There’s certainly more in store for video conferencing, and all of these companies in that regard, and we’re curious to see what other partnerships emerge in 2010 as video conferencing gets a makeover.