Piggyback
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Piggyback is normally referred to as the activity of riding on someone's shoulders or back, the way a child might try to ride a pig on a farm for fun. However, the word has many other uses.
It is also used in marketing, as a description for using the know-how, brand, capital or other asset of some other company to enter in a market. The piggyback strategy is used to reduce risk, and more established companies can leverage the brand and market reach of a partner to help them very quickly pick up the credibility and awareness needed in new market segments.
In telecommunications, piggyback may be a causal or slang term for multiplexing, particularly when a minor signal is carried on a major one (by subcarriers, for example).
In electrical engineering, a piggyback circuit breaker is a double-switch that fits in a single slot in a breaker panel. This is only if they are side-by-side in the same unit — it does not count single half-height units which share a slot. Both are used when a panel has run out of slots, but can still accept the current. The piggyback breaker has two separate outputs, one for each circuit.
In railroading, piggyback refers to the practice of carrying trailers or containers in a train atop a flat car.
Synonym
pickaback
External links
- Marketing tips: Piggyback Marketing (http://www.businessleader.com/bl/jul02/piggybackmarketing.html)