Madfiber does the same thing and it can help with temperature handling. However with the progress of higher temperature resins that can handle pretty much any descent plus the new brake pad development the alloy track is not really needed.
The whole two articles that Velonews posted today read like one huge advertisement for Mavic.

The rims are also only 19mm wide so handling and aerodynamics are not going to be as great as they could have been (as many other people are now finding out).