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Unvested Stock Options Issued During Period Acquisitions

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Income (expense) and gain (loss) recognized from the settlement of a preexisting relationship between the acquirer and the acquiree.

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- Definition

The amount of acquisition cost of a business combination allocated to an identifiable intangible asset that will be amortized.

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The total purchase price of the acquired entity. This includes cash paid to equity interest holders of the acquired entity, fair value of debt and equity securities issued to equity holders of the acquired entity, and transaction costs paid to third parties to consummate the acquisition.

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Amount of goodwill arising from a business combination, which is the excess of the cost of the acquired entity over the amounts assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

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The amount of acquisition cost of a business combination allocated to liabilities assumed.

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Period the instrument, asset or liability is expected to be outstanding, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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The number of businesses acquired by the entity during the period.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of a business, net of the cash acquired from the purchase.

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The estimated dividend rate (a percentage of the share price) to be paid (expected dividends) to holders of the underlying shares over the option's term.

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The estimated measure of the percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

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The risk-free interest rate assumption that is used in valuing an option on its own shares.

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Price of a single share of a number of saleable stocks of a company.

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Number of shares of stock issued during the period pursuant to acquisitions.

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Value of stock issued pursuant to acquisitions during the period.

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Business Combinations, Intangibles and Goodwill - Additional Information (Details) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 Entity	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012 EMC Entity	Sep. 30, 2012 VMware Entity	Sep. 30, 2012 VMware Nicira	Aug. 24, 2012 VMware Nicira
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Assumptions Used Calculating Research And Development In Process Discount Rate						17.00%
Business Acquisition, Purchase Price Allocation, Assets Acquired (Liabilities Assumed), Net						$ 1,099,624,000
Businesses acquired (in number of entities)	13			7	6
Business acquisition, adjustment to fair value of previously held interests, recognized in other income			31,600,000
Business acquisition, aggregate consideration for businesses	1,899,200,000					1,099,600,000
Cash consideration for acquisition of businesses	1,878,051,000	536,624,000				1,083,000,000
Stock options issued in business acquisitions	21,100,000					16,600,000
Unvested Stock Options Issued During Period Shares Acquisitions						1.1
Stock Issued During Period, Shares, Acquisitions						0.6
Acquisition-date closing share price							$ 92.21
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to goodwill	1,583,700,000					947,956,000
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to intangibles	553,000,000					334,600,000
Consideration of acquisitions allocated to net liabilities	$ 237,500,000
Share-based Compensation Arrangement, Fair Value Assumptions, Expected Term						2 years 8 months 12 days
Share-based Compensation Arrangement, Fair Value Assumptions, Risk Free Interest Rate						0.30%
Share-based Compensation Arrangement, Fair Value Assumptions, Expected Volatility Rate						35.70%
Share-based Compensation Arrangement, Fair Value Assumptions, Expected Dividend Rate						0.00%