Databricks GA's Variant type slashes semi-structured query latency up to 30×
Databricks' new Variant data type is generally available, letting teams ingest JSON, XML or CSV without schema‑first pipelines while keeping query speed. Predictive‑optimized shredding makes reads up to 4× faster than unshredded Variant and 30× faster than string‑stored JSON, now powering 500M+ monthly queries.