Apple's introduction of a smart watch in early September may have been the highest profile launch in this category (yet), but the partnerships Salesforce is building with its Wear initiative are a far better indicator of the innovative business solutions being made possible by the emerging wearables product category.

First, some market perspective. Sales of these gadgets could reach $4.5 billion this year, jumping to $53.2 billion by 2019, predicts Juniper Research in a recent report. The two biggest products: smart watches and smart glasses, such as the technology from Google and a far smaller company (but far more applicable for business settings) called Vuzix.

This sets the stage for the likes of Epson, Google, Jawbone, Oculus, Philips and Samsung, all of which are working on ways to integrate metrics and measurements collected via data-savvy glasses, watches, bracelets, wristbands and other devices with business apps. One example of an application: a field technician wearing Glass could get remote coaching from someone back in the office viewing the video feed. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Another idea comes from technology integrator Brivo Labs, which is working on a biometrics solution that uses a heart-monitoring wristband from Nymi as the identity authentication device for its Randivoo visitor check-in system. Apparently, the rhythm of your heartbeat is unique to every person. The integration will be shown off at Dreamforce next month. (Brivo also does work using Google Glass.)

"The whole workflow is automated," says Lee Odess, general manager for Brivo, based in Bethesda, Md.

Here's how the solution will work: someone walks up to the reception desk, and waves the Nymi wristband at the check-in kiosk to share the identification credentials stored on it digitally. Not only will the Randivoo system know you are you, it makes sure the person you're meeting is alerted in some way and it notes the visit in the relevant Salesforce contact record.

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