Forgive me if I am wrong...
... but, what they are describing is essentially a 'micro' RBS [Radio Base Station].
All the rest of the architecture described is essentially, "normal".
The 'central server farm' is currently the NOC, [Network Ops' Centre] which is often, but not always co-located with important elements such as the HLR, MSC and of course the Charging System, either for pre-paid or post-paid subscribers.
Getting the "band width" out to RBS has always been done by Fibre, or, as some would have it, fiber. Microwave is often also used on long runs, say, the north African coast.
In Blighty, BT or similar wholesalers carry the traffic.
Next in the food chain is often the BSC, or Base Station Controller. This is often the level at which RBS to RBS handovers are done, BSC's themselves being controlled by an MSC. Pooling can save resources here, allowing underused BSC's to take traffic when fellow nodes are over worked : busy hour periods are typical.
What Alcatel have done seems to be a device which would be ideal for in building coverage, especially given the 'directional' capability.
The rest of the network seems to be largely ignored.