I’ve been predicting for a few months that TelePresence — loosely defined as next-generation videoconferencing gear — will emerge as a big opportunity for managed service providers.

Cisco and AT&T finally backed up my claims this week, by announcing a managed  TelePresence initiative. The official press release included the standard jargon. But Cisco’s own company blog actually adds some timely perspective to the news. Here’s why.

To date, TelePresence’s greatest limitations have involved high prices, lack of certified solutions providers, and inflexible technology. In particular, most early TelePresence executive conference rooms could only communicate with similar TelePresence systems within the same company.

But AT&T will offer one of the industry’s first “intercompany” TelePresence services, Cisco’s corporate blog notes.

I remain upbeat about TelePresence, but I suspect I’ve been evangelizing this market opportunity a bit too early for most traditional MSPs.