What is the purpose of route summarization?

Route summarization, also known as route aggregation, is a technique used in networking to reduce the size of routing tables. When multiple contiguous IP address ranges are grouped into a single summarized route, it significantly decreases the number of entries in the routing table. This consolidation leads to quicker lookups and decreases the memory requirements on routers, thereby improving their performance and efficiency.

By summarizing routes, routers can handle routing information in a more manageable way, allowing them to process changes in the network topology more effectively and minimizing the amount of routing information that needs to be propagated across the network. This ensures that routing updates are more streamlined and reduces overhead, which can be crucial in larger networks.

In contrast, the other options do not accurately represent the intent of route summarization. Efficient assignment of IP addresses focuses more on address management rather than on routing table management. Increasing routing complexity is contrary to the goal of summarization, which simplifies routing decisions. Providing security for routes pertains to different mechanisms, such as routing protocols security enhancements, rather than the primary purpose of summarization.