Segments and Entity-Wide Disclosures - Other Intangibles Assets, Goodwill and Maintenance Spares (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	May 02, 2020	Nov. 02, 2019
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Other intangible assets, net	$ 115,536
Goodwill	310,269	$ 297,937
Maintenance spares, net	58,476
Operating Segments \| Networking Platforms
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Other intangible assets, net	15,586
Goodwill	65,029
Maintenance spares, net	0
Operating Segments \| Platform Software and Services
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Other intangible assets, net	0
Goodwill	156,191
Maintenance spares, net	0
Operating Segments \| Blue Planet Automation Software and Services
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Other intangible assets, net	99,950
Goodwill	89,049
Maintenance spares, net	0
Operating Segments \| Global Services
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Other intangible assets, net	0
Goodwill	0
Maintenance spares, net	$ 58,476

Maintenance Spares Inventory Net Non Current.

No definition available.

Name:	cien_MaintenanceSparesInventoryNetNonCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	cien_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77989000&loc=SL49117168-202975

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99380562&loc=d3e13770-109266

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_Goodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingInformationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ConsolidationItemsAxis=us-gaap_OperatingSegmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=cien_NetworkingPlatformsSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=cien_PlatformSoftwareandServicesSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=cien_BluePlanetAutomationSoftwareandServicesSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=cien_GlobalServicesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: