Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Income Statement [Abstract]
Service revenues	$ 110,696	$ 89,949
Product revenues	34,002	39,788
Total net revenues	144,698	129,737
Cost of services	72,071	69,273
Cost of products	15,773	25,507
Gross profit	56,854	34,957
Operating expenses:
Research, development and engineering	9,039	9,290
Marketing and sales	9,213	7,980
General, administrative and other operating expenses	18,931	15,764
Total operating expenses	37,183	33,034
Income (loss) from operations	19,671	1,923
Interest expense, net	(4,797)	(1,066)
Equity in earnings (losses) of investments	(1,688)	1,116
Other expense, net	68,526	1,027
Income (loss) before income taxes	81,712	3,000
Income tax expense	5,263	1,201
Net income (loss)	76,449	1,799
Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	(470)	76
Net income (loss) attributable to ION	75,979	1,875
Preferred stock dividends	0	338
Net income (loss) applicable to common shares	$ 75,979	$ 1,537
Net income (loss) per share:
Basic, in dollars per share	$ 0.46	$ 0.01
Diluted, in dollars per share	$ 0.46	$ 0.01
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic, in shares	163,847	156,465
Diluted, in shares	164,061	157,315