CIDR was developed to improve the allocation of IP addresses and allow for more efficient routing. It replaces the older system based on classes (A, B, C) with a more flexible system that can assign IP addresses with varying prefix lengths. This makes it possible to create IP networks with a size that is tailored to the number of devices rather than being limited to sizes defined by classful network design. This efficiency is achieved by permitting the use of variable-length subnet masks (VLSM) which divides IP addresses into subnets of different sizes. This method conserves IP addresses and supports route aggregation, which simplifies routing tables and improves routing efficiency.
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