Noncontrolling Interests	12 Months Ended
Noncontrolling Interests	Dec. 31, 2011
Noncontrolling Interest [Abstract]
Noncontrolling Interests	Noncontrolling Interests In June 2009, the Company completed the purchase of 833,333 shares of Series A Preferred Stock and 12.8 million shares of common stock of its majority-owned subsidiary Charlotte's Networks, Inc. The total purchase price was $1.5 million. After the purchase, MRV owned all of the preferred stock and 99.7% of the common stock of Charlotte's Networks. On August 4, 2009 the subsidiary was merged into MRV. The $1.0 million difference between the purchase price and the carrying amount of the noncontrolling interest was recognized as a reduction of MRV equity. On October 29, 2010 the Company completed the purchase of the remaining 40 percent interest in Tecnonet S.p.A, its majority owned Italian Network Integration subsidiary, for $5.6 million. After the purchase, MRV is the 100% owner of Tecnonet S.p.A. The noncontrolling interest's share of the net book value of Tecnonet was $6.7 million as of the date of the transaction. The amount by which the noncontrolling interest balance exceeded the purchase price was recorded as an increase in MRV equity.

The entire disclosure for noncontrolling interest in consolidated subsidiaries, which could include the name of the subsidiary, the ownership percentage held by the parent, the ownership percentage held by the noncontrolling owners, the amount of the noncontrolling interest, the location of this amount on the balance sheet (when not reported separately), an explanation of the increase or decrease in the amount of the noncontrolling interest, the noncontrolling interest share of the net Income or Loss of the subsidiary, the location of this amount on the income statement (when not reported separately), the nature of the noncontrolling interest such as background information and terms, the amount of the noncontrolling interest represented by preferred stock, a description of the preferred stock, and the dividend requirements of the preferred stock.

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