It opens with a flash back to when he gets his double "o" status. Shows how it happens. Then continues in the present day.
You can assume that this movie is pretty much a set of book ends to the whole Bond universe to this point.
71bigblock has it right also, but I think the real question you have is, if this is a new agent Bond that is replacing an old agent Bond. The answer to that is no. This is supposed to be the same Bond that all the previous actors have played. Just a different take on the personality.