For system administrators who already have to wrestle with heterogeneous infrastructure on a daily basis, get ready: Chromebooks are a growing presence in business technology stacks, according to new data from The NPD Group. Although sales of PCs and tablets through B2B channels were largely stagnant in the first six months of the year, sales of devices equipped with Chrome OS and Android increased by 29 percent. That handily beats Windows devices, sales of which declined 8 percent during the period, and Apple devices, which declined 12 percent. The following graph shows how Google operating systems have seized progressively more market-share over the past two and a half years: “In B2B channels the notebook remains the device of choice for the vast amount of purchasers, with sales volumes more than triple that of tablets,” Stephen Baker, an analyst with The NPD Group, wrote in a statement accompanying the new data. “For B2B productivity and the best mix of affordability, form and function, the notebook remains the workhorse device purchased through B2B channels for business, education, and government organizations.” Chromebooks have also benefited from significant uptake in the education market, where their relative inexpensiveness appeals to both students and budget-strapped school administrators. For businesses, Chromebooks offer a cost-effective option for workers who don’t need to complete many tasks offline, or who do virtually all of their work through the browser. While many corporations continue to rely on Windows, these new numbers from The NPD Group suggest that systems administrators and anyone else managing the IT stack need to pay attention to Chrome OS, if they haven’t been doing so already.