Business Combinations, Intangibles and Goodwill - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended				9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011 Acquisition By VMware	Jun. 30, 2011 All Technology Companies Patents	Jun. 30, 2011 EMC Patents	Sep. 30, 2011 VMware Roche Transaction	Jun. 30, 2011 VMware Roche Transaction	Sep. 30, 2011 VMware Roche Transaction	Jun. 30, 2011 VMware Roche Transaction Leasehold Interest	Jun. 30, 2011 Patents
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Businesses acquired	7		6
Business acquisition, aggregate consideration for businesses	$ 539,800,000
Cash consideration for acquisition of businesses	536,624,000	851,380,000
Stock options issued in business acquisitions	3,224,000	1,841,000
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to goodwill	375,840,000
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to intangibles	157,100,000
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to net assets	6,900,000
Payments to acquire intangible asset portfolio				450,000,000	112,500,000				173,100,000
Assigned useful life										10
Payments to purchase ground lease							225,000,000
Portion of acquisition price attributable to property, plant and equipment, net							51,900,000	73,900,000
Portion of acquisition price attributable to intangible assets				450,000,000	112,500,000				173,100,000
Amount classified to property, plant and equipment, net during period						$ 22,000,000
Amortization period of intangible assets						through 2046